Lemon Meringue Pie
by Head Chef Steven Paterson

Ingredients

Sweet pastry

• 100g butter
• 75g caster sugar
• 1 free-range egg
• 230g plain flour
• 1 pinch salt

Lemon curd

• 5 lemons
• 50g cornflour
• 6 egg yolks
• 200g caster sugar
• 150g butter

Meringue

• 8 egg whites
• 400g caster sugar

Method

Preheat your oven to 180℃. To make the pastry, whisk the butter and sugar, then mix in the egg. Sift in the flour and salt and bring together, but don’t overwork. Cover and leave to rest for a minimum of two hours in the fridge.

Roll the pastry out to a thickness of 4mm and line a buttered baking dish with the pastry, allowing the pasty to hang over the edges. Make a double layer of cling film, larger than the dish, and lay it over the pastry. Fill with rice, fold over the cling film, and bake for 10–15 minutes until the pastry on the outer edges is crisp.

Remove the baking rice and cling film and cook for another 10 minutes, until the base is also crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Use a potato peeler to trim the edges of the pastry so they are flat and even.

For the lemon curd, place the lemon juice and zest in a pan and bring to the boil. In 80ml of water, dissolve the cornflour. Mix together the sugar, egg yolks, and cornflour and stir into the boiling lemon juice, whisking until thickened.

Remove from the heat, mix in the butter a little at a time, and set aside to cool slightly, then cover with cling film to stop a skin forming while you make the meringue.

Place the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk with an electric whisk. Start adding the sugar a little at a time until you have a thick, glossy meringue.

To build the pie, pour the lemon curd onto the pastry case and smooth over until it is even. Spoon on the meringue, working from the outside in so you create a seal around the edges of the pastry. Swirl the meringue around as you go to ensure you get crispy edges.

Bake for 15 minutes in the oven, or until the meringue is golden brown.