Lemon Meringue Pie

Marita's Specialty

For this recipe I tend to cheat a little, that is instead of making a pastry from scratch I use a supermarket pastry, normally a sweet short pastry. (When I make this recipe I normally make two or more as one never lasts long enough). The lemons to use are preferably the rough skinned ones, Lisbon's not the soft myer lemons. Marita (Starbuck).

1 packet of sweet short pastry

Filling

Rind and juice of 2 large or 3 small lemons
1 cup (200g. / 7oz.) sugar
˝ cup (60g. / 2oz.) custard powder
1˝ cups (375ml / 12 fl. oz.) water
2 Tbs butter
3 egg yolks

Topping

3 egg whites
pinch of salt
Ľ cup (50g. / 1ľoz.) castor sugar

Roll pastry put to cover a pie dish of 20cm (8 inches), pierce with a fork all over and bake in the oven at 230C (450F) for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.. Remove and cool.

Meantime, grate the lemons, mix the rind with the sugar and custard powder. Add water.

Forgot to say, mix all this up in a microwave proof bowl. Place in the microwave (m/wave) on full power and cook for two minutes at a time, stirring each time. Cook like this until the mixture is clear and evenly thick. Stir in butter and egg yolks, cook again until it bubbles and thickens even more. Do not overcook at this stage. Stir in lemon juice. Pour into cooked shell.

For the topping, beat the egg whites with the salt until their peaks turn over. Add castor sugar and beat again until peaks are stiffer and turning over only a small amount at the top. Pile on top of filling. The bake pie at 190C (375F) for 5 - 10 minutes until the tips of meringue are lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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