Lemon meringue pie

To me, this is the queen of all sweet pies. The sharpness of the lemons combined with the sweet meringue is unbeatable as a dessert, although you can also serve it with afternoon tea. I make the shortcrust pastry myself. It is very simple and, to me, nothing is lovelier than being up to my elbows in flour and butter.

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry

75 g plain flour

100 g cold butter, cut into small pieces 1 tablespoon icing sugar

1 egg yolk

For the filling

2 tablespoons cornflour

100 g caster sugar finely grated zest of 3 small lemons

125 ml fresh lemon juice (of 2–3 lemons) juice of 2 oranges

85 g butter, cut into pieces

3 egg yolks and 1 whole egg

For the meringue

4 egg whites, room temperature 200 g caster sugar

2 level teaspoons cornflour

Begin by making the pastry. Put the flour, butter and icing sugar into a large bowl, working it until it is a soft and crumbly mixture. Add the egg yolk and cold water and knead lightly into a dough. Sprinkle a handful of flour on to your work surface and roll out the pastry until it fits into a round 23-centimetre pie dish. Cut away any extra pastry and, using a fork, prick the crust. Put the pie base in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Take the pie out of the fridge and cover the base with foil and blind bake for 20 minutes. After 15 minutes, take off the foil. The crust should be a light gold colour.

Now make the filling. In a medium-size saucepan, mix the cornflour, caster sugar and the lemon zest of three small lemons. Slowly, add the lemon juice — some recipes call for the lemon juice to be strained, but I think a little pulp in the mix adds to the flavour — followed by the orange juice. Heat the mixture slowly and stir often. When it has thickened, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the butter. Once this has melted, mix in the whole egg and the egg yolks. Put the saucepan back on the cooker and heat until the mixture is thick enough to fall in drops from a spoon. Remove from heat.

Finally, prepare the meringue. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until they form peaks. Then slowly mix in half of the caster sugar, followed by the cornflour and then the rest of the caster sugar. Warm up the filling, pour it on to the pie base and cover with spoonfuls of meringue. Bake the pie for 15 to 20 minutes. The top of the meringue should be lightly browned and crisp. Allow the pie to cool for 20 minutes before serving.