LMP

A baking fever has taken hold of me. Last weekend it was brownies, the weekend before was chocolate cake, and now I've got meringue on my elbow and temple and have that sick-tummy feeling of having eaten too much raw pie dough (my mother's if-it-tastes-good-cooked-it-must-taste-even-better-raw genes at work). The Brit simply mentioned in casual conversation something about lemon meringue pie, and now there's one in the oven. Hmph.

While playing the role of #1 Slave in a gourmet takeaway several years ago, I used to make LM pie every other day or so. We sold it by the slice so it was crucial that the filling stay "gelled" even when sliced into. We finally figured out the perfect ratio of yolks: cornstarch, and built the whole affair on a shortbread cookie crust for better stamina. As I recall, that pie is the fucking bomb.

It's a 4-stage process:
1. toast almonds (or hazelnuts, so long as you haven't had any Frangelico-related unpleasantness in the past 10 years) and bzzz in the food processor til fine.

2. make awesomest crust ever in the food processor, press it into the pan (no rolling!), prick all over with fork and bake blind (nothing to do with eye-masks, but more how you line with parchment and fill with dried beans so the crust holds its shape).

3. Make lemon curd, strain and whisk in butter. Taste for seasoning. It is very important not to just go ahead and eat all the filling at this stage.


4. Make one shit-ton of meringue, cover, swirl, bake for another hour and a half or so.

There wasn't any cream of tartar in house, and somehow there was waaaay more meringue than I could get onto the pie, but I still have a good feeling about it all.