Lemon Meringue Pie

I love lemons, they are one of my favorite flavours, so lemon meringue pie is a definite favorite in my house.  My mum used to make a fab pie that is the stuff of family legend, so I can only hope to get somewhere close to that.  My take on it is based on Mary Berry's pie but I use normal shortctust pastry for the base rather than the biscuit version she uses.

Shortcrust Pastry
180g flour
90g butter
iced water

Filling
397g tin condensed milk
3 large egg yolks
finely grated rind and juice of 3 lemons

Topping
3 large egg whites
175g castor sugar

• Preheat the oven to 170c
• Make the shortcrust pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour either by hand or with a food processor or with a stand mixer.
• Sprinkle about 3 tbsp of iced water over the mixture and stir in using a  knife.  Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a smooth paste.  If the mixture does not come together add a little more water.  Form the pastry into a disc and wrap in clingfilm and rest for 30 mins.
• Roll out the pastry and line an 8inch pie dish.
• Cut a circle of greaseproof paper a bit bigger than the pie dish and use it to line the pastry case, fill with baking beans.
• Blind bake the pastry for 20 mins, remove the beans and paper and bake for a further 5 mins until the pastry is golden.
• Make the filling by pouring the condensed milk into a bowl then beat in the egg yolks, lemon zest and juice
• Pour the mixture into the pastry case.
• Whisk the egg whites till stiff. Gradually add the sugar a spoon at a time whisking well in between each spoon until the mixture is very stiff.
• Spoon over the pie.
• Bake for 20mins, leave to cool for 30mins then eat warm.

Epic Christmas Pie

I wanted to carry on with my pastry practice over Christmas so found this rather epic Christmas pie on the Goodfood website.  I'd not used a spring form tin for pastry before, but it came out really well and I'll definitely try it again.  I did deviate from the recipe by making the pastry from scratch rather than pre made.  One thing I did mess up was measuring the ingredients for the pastry, I convinced myself that the ration of flour to fat was 1:1  instead of 2 flour:1 fat. Oops! I had to start again with the first batch of pastry, but got it right second time, and it's not a mistake I will make again!

For the pastry
250g butter
500g flour
Iced water

For the filling
2 tbsp olive oil
knob butter
1 onion finely chopped
500g sausagemeat
grated zest of 1 lemon
100g fresh white breadcrumbs
85g dried apricots, chopped
50g chestnuts, chopped
2 tsp chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried thyme
100g cranberries
500g boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 egg beaten to glaze

• Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour either by hand or with a food processor or a stand mixer, until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Sprinkle about 3 tbsp of iced water over the mixture and stir in using a  knife.  Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a smooth paste.  If the mixture does not come together add a little more water.  Form the pastry into a disc and wrap in clingfilm and rest for 30 mins.
• Whilst the pastry rests make the filling.  Heat oven to 190c/170fan/gas 5.
• Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan, then add the onion and fry for 5 mins until softened,  Cool slightly. Tip the sausagemeat, lemon zest, breadcrumbs, apricots, chestnuts and thyme into a bowl.  Add the onion and cranberries and mix everything together with your hands, adding plenty of pepper and a little salt.
• Cut each chicken breast into three fillets lengthwise and season all over with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan and fry the chicken fillets until browned, about 6-8mins.

• Roll out the thirds of the pastry to line a 20-23cm springform tin.  Press in half the sausage mix and spread to level.  Then add the chicken pieces in one layer and cover with the rest of the sausage mix.  Press down lightly.
• Roll out the remaining pastry.  Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg and cover with the pastry lid.  Pinch the edges to seal, then trim.  Brush the top of the pie with the egg, then reroll the trimmings to make holly leaf shape and berries.  Decorate the pie and brush again with egg.
• Set the tin on a baking sheet and bake for 50-60mins, then cool in the tin for 15 mins.  Remove the tin and leave to cool completely.

 This is a really good pie recipe that really hits all the Christmassy flavours without being too overpowering.  I'll definitely be making it again and trying other epic pies!