James Tanner's lemon meringue pie
For the first weekend in June, James Tanner has a summery dessert of lemon meringue pie.
You'll need:1 x 18cm sweet pastry tart shell
Ingredients
Lemon Curd filling:Zest and juice of 3 large lemons4 large egg yolks90g caster sugar40g butter, cubed
Meringue:4 large egg whites2 tsp corn flour200g golden caster sugar
Method
For the lemon curd:
Place the lemon zest and juice, yolks, sugar and butter in a large heatproof bowl. Suspend the bowl over pan of simmering water, ensuring that the base of the bowl does not touch the water.
Stir continuously for 10-15 minutes until combined, and the butter melts and sugar dissolves. Keep stirring over the heat until the curd is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, or a track is left by a finger swiped through it. Remove from the heat and spread over pastry base.
For the meringue:
Whisk the egg whites to firm peaks and add half the sugar a little at a time.
Then whisk in cornflour, and remaining sugar gradually. Whisking until firm and glossy.
Spread some of the meringue around the edges of the lemon curd in the pastry shell. Spoon remaining meringue on top, swirl or peak the meringue as desired.
Bake in a pre heated oven set to 170C for 20 minutes until meringue is crisp and coloured. Remove and leave to cool before serving.