Lemon meringue pie and yet another food blog!

Hi there. You've stumbled upon the first ever post of my new blog! I know there are squillions and squillions of food blogs already floating in cyberspace, but I though I'd like somewhere to record the recipes I love and I enjoy having a play around with my camera so I thought 'why not?' And here we are.

The first recipe I'd like to share with you is of a perfectly wonderful lemon meringue pie.

The strongest memory I have of this dessert is from 2005, when I was in year 10 at school. In this year, all students are required to go on a week-long hike in the Victorian wilderness and camp under the stars to learn to appreciate nature. Now, I have absolutely no aversion to nature or getting dirty. I love being outdoors and I do enjoy long day hikes. Most of all, I enjoy being outdoors on the back of a horse. However, what I do NOT enjoy is walking for a week, in the scorching heat, and sleeping on the hard ground without access to a shower or loo. That is not at all what I was made for. Make me walk all day with a heavy pack, then give me a shower at the end of it to wash off the day's hardships and I'm happy, but make me sleep in filth then get up the next day to do it all again, and I am not a happy camper.

I'm sure that by the end of the week, you could stand 100 metres away see the stench coming off us. My condolenses to my poor friend's mother who was allocated the job of picking us up at the end of the camp.

BUT, one of the best things about this camp was that when I got home, mum had a lemon meringue pie sitting on the kitchen bench, waiting for me in all its glory.

Seeing it almost made the pain of the week go away. Once I had rinsed myself of the week's dirt and put on clean (clean!) clothes, I finally got to eat the pie, and the pain of the week did seem to disappear. No more canned tuna and dry mountain bread, but a luscious and tart lemon filling with fluffy clouds of meringue. 

I never tried to make a lemon meringue pie like that, until last week, when I got a request for one. I tried out one recipe during the week, which yielded a liquid-y base and slightly soggy crust, but the pie that I made for the request was as perfect as I have ever had. I hope you love it too.

Flaky flaky crust
Adapted from smittenkitchen.com and Cooks Illustrated, November 2007.

1 ¼ C flour

½ tsp salt

1 Tbs sugar

6 Tbs cold unsalted butter, diced

½ C very cold margarine, diced

¼ C ice cold vodka

1. Process 3/4 C flour, salt and sugar for a couple of seconds in a food processor, until just combined. 
2. Add butter and margarine and pulse for around 10 seconds, until the dough just starts to form clumps. Add the rest of the flour and pulse for another 5 seconds or so, then dump into a big bowl and sprinkle on the vodka. The dough should still be in clumps and you should be able to see flecks of butter. Fold in the liquid with a spatula until the dough just comes together, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour. 
3. Roll out onto a floured surface until around 12 inches diameter, then place over a 9 inch pan and gently cut off the excess pastry. Keep pastry slightly folded over the lip of the pan, otherwise when it bakes, it might fall down the pan and lose height. 
4. Freeze the pastry for 30 minutes, then prick the base all over and bake at 175C (350F) for 30-35 minutes, until dark golden and firm. 

Note: The original recipe calls for 1/4 C of water added to the dough with the vodka, but I heard that this can make the dough too sticky and a bit hard to work with, so I omitted it when I made the pastry and it worked out great!

Tangy lemon filling

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen

1 ¼ cup sugar

1 C lemon juice

3 Tbs finely grated lemon zest

1 C water

2/3 C cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large egg yolks (whites reserved for the meringue)

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces and softened

1. In a large saucepan, whisk sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and salt together until cornstarch is dissolved. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking until the mixture thickens (not just a a little, let it become very thick), around 8 minutes.
2. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium, heat-proof jug, then while whisking constantly, pour in the cornstarch mixture. Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir in the lemon zest and butter. 
3. Bring back to a simmer and stir constantly until the mixture is so thick that its more of a gel than a sauce. 
4. Pour into the cooled pie crust and cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to a day. 

Marshmallowy meringue

From Foodnetwork.com

1/3 C water
1 C sugar
5 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp vanilla paste

1. Preheat the oven to 175C (350F).
2. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium/high heat, and swirl to dissolve the sugar, without stirring. Brush down the sides of the saucepan with a pastry brush dipped in water to prevent sugar crystals forming and falling into the syrup. When the syrup reads 112-115C (235-240F) on a candy thermometer, remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside while you beat the egg whites. 
3. Beat egg whites on low until frothy (approx. 2 min), then add the salt and cream of tartar and slowly increase the speed to medium/high, until soft peaks form (another 2 minutes). 
4. Continue beating the eggs and add the hot syrup slowly, then add the vanilla. Keep beating until the meringue has cooked, is very thick, shines and tastes like marshmallows (7-9 minutes).
5. Pile the meringue on top of the pie (if it was in the fridge for a long time, make sure that no condensation has formed on top of the lemon filling - if it has, just gently lay a paper towel on top to soak it up), and make sure that the meringue touches the edges of the pastry. This will prevent the meringue sliding all over the pie once you cut a slice out!
6. Bake for around 5 minutes, until the peaks of the meringue are just golden brown, then cool to room temperature. 
7. Serve as soon as possible and enjoy!

This meringue is a little different than what you usually find on a lemon meringue pie, but it is more stable than when plain sugar is added to frothy egg whites, and means that the pie is still good on the second and third day after it is made! Just be careful not to drop anything on the meringue, because that will ruin any meringue...