Lemon Meringue (and ensuing madness)

You'll notice there was not a Quiche Saturday in there. I'm sort of at a loss for quiche inspiration, so they'll be on hiatus until we get a new round of interesting veggies I can play with.

So I skipped forward to Monday, July 4th. (Technically, the fourth is when I baked the berries-that-are-not-all-berries pie, and the Lemon Meringue was the following day. Pies have all been off schedule for a while, but they've all been accounted for (except quiches)). I realized that even though I had baked this pie last year, it was after the blog side of things had fallen into disrepair. So I decided to revisit it.

Not only that, but I decided to play around with this one in the next series of pies. I wish I had a snappy name for it. How about 'the Fruit Curd and Meringue Experiments.' The Fruit CAME for short.

Anyway, Lemon Meringue is the first because it is the recipe that all those to follow are based on.

This starts out with the standard pie crust; in fact, this recipe is the rest of the Good Eats episode from which my pie crust method comes, I Pie.
Bake the pie crust blind at 425F for ten minutes with your pie weights and ten or so more without.

Beat your meringue up while it's baking. Beat 4 egg whites (the yolks are in the lemon curd part, so keep them around) with a pinch of cream of tartar. After they get to stiff peaks, slowly add 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) of sugar. (I say eight tablespoons because it's easier for me to add that in bit by bit. If you had a stand mixer you could just slowly pour in a half cup as it's running, but I have to set down my hand mixer to add the sugar so I go by the tablespoon.) After it's all been added, beat for a few more minutes, until you can rub a small amount of meringue between your fingers and there's no grit from the sugar. Cover and stash in the fridge until everything else is ready.

4 egg yolks
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed is where it's at)
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3 tablespoons butter

A helpful instrument for this recipe would be an egg timer or stopwatch. Three times while cooking the curd, you'll be letting it boil for a full minute, so any implement that you can use to time out sixty seconds will make this quite a bit easier.
Beat the egg yolks in a mixing bowl until they lighten slightly in color. Combine the sugar, water, salt, and cornstarch in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then continue to cook for sixty seconds while stirring.
Remove from heat and temper the egg yolks by adding a whisk-full at a time of the hot mixture to the eggs, beating together and working quickly. After quite a few whisk-sized transfers (shoot for about a third of the hot stuff) return the saucepan to the heat and add the tempered eggs to it. Bring to a boil again, then cook for sixty seconds for a second time.
Turn the heat down to low and add the lemon juice, zest, and butter. Stir slowly until fully combined then return to a boil. Cook for a third sixty seconds after it's boiling. Then pour the curd into the pie crust.
Beat up the meringue one more time, for about thirty seconds. Top the curd with the meringue and let cool for at least two hours. Overnight is prolly best.

I LOVE this pie. Like whoa. Strong contrasts in both flavor and texture make the pie experience great. Crispy crust, creamy filling, fluffy meringue paired with the sweet-tart flavor combo: YUM.