Pamela Clark has been associated with The Australian Women’s
Weekly Test Kitchen for nearly 50 years, teaching generations of
Australians how to cook. Here’s her ultimate lemon meringue pie.
LEMON MERINGUE PIE
PREP + COOK TIME 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES
(+ REFRIGERATION) SERVES 10
½ cup (75g) cornflour
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
½ cup (125ml) lemon juice
1¼ cups (310ml) water
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
60g butter, chopped
3 eggs, separated
⅓ cup (75g) caster sugar, extra
PASTRY
1½ cups (225g) plain flour
1 tablespoon icing sugar
140g cold butter, chopped
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons iced water
1 Make pastry.
2 Grease a 24cm round loose−based
fluted flan tin. Roll out the pastry
between sheets of baking paper
until large enough to line tin. Ease
pastry into tin, press into base and
side; trim edge. Refrigerate for
30 minutes.
3 Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan.
4 Place tin on an oven tray. Line
pastry with baking paper or foil; fill
with dried beans or rice. Bake on
lower shelf for 20 minutes. Remove
paper and beans; bake for a further
10 minutes or until pastry is browned
and cooked through. Remove pastry
case from oven; cool. Turn off oven.
5 Meanwhile, combine cornflour
and sugar in a medium saucepan.
Graduallystirinjuiceandthewater
untilsmooth;cook,stirring,until
mixtureboilsandthickens.Reduce
heat; simmer, stirring, for 1 minute.
Remove from heat; stir in rind, butter
and egg yolks. Cool for 10 minutes.
6 Spread filling into pie case. Cover;
refrigerate for 2 hours.
7 Preheat oven to 240°C/220°C fan.
8 Beat egg whites in a small bowl
with an electric mixer until soft
peaks form; gradually add extra
sugar, beating until sugar dissolves
after each addition.
9 Roughen surface of the filling
with a fork before spreading with
meringue mixture. Bake pie for
2 minutes or until meringue is
browned lightly.PASTRY
Process flour, icing sugar and butter
until crumbly. Add egg yolk and the
water; process until ingredients just
come together. Knead dough on a
floured surface until smooth. Flatten
pastry slightly, wrap in plastic wrap;
refrigerate for 30 minutes.TEST
KITCHEN
NOTES
Be careful not to stretch
the pastry, push it gently
against the side of the tin.
For blind baking, you need
a lot of dried beans, rice or
lentils to fill a pastry case.
Cool them after use and
store in an airtight
container for next time.
If you combine the sugar
and cornflour in the
saucepan, blending in the
liquid will be easy. After
the filling comes to the
boil, you must keep on
stirring hard, for 1 minute
or so to get rid of the
starchy taste – watch that
the mixture doesn’t catch
on the bottom of the pan.
Roughing up the surface
of the filling first will help
the meringue cling to it.
It’s important the sugar is
completely dissolved in the
meringue, if it doesn’t the
meringue can “weep”
droplets of moisture during
and after baking. To ensure
sugar is dissolved rub a
small quantity of egg white
mixture between your
fingertips, if it feels
smooth the sugar is
dissolved, if it’s granular
you need to beat longer.
You can add the egg white
fromthepastryrecipeto
themeringueformore
volume.Increasethesugar
to½ cup(110g).Available at awwcookbooks.com.au
and where all good books are sold.AWW FOOD • ISSUE FORTY NINE 127
Cake Of The Month
MEMORIES
RECIPESFRO
THE TEST
KITCHEN
by PamelaCl
ON SALE
NOWS&
OM
Tark