English Recipes

Lemon meringue pie is a traditional British dessert. It's a complicated recipe with lots of different stages, so not for the novice.

Ingredients (Serves 6)

Pastry

6 oz short crust pastry (You can buy pre baked pie crusts in the UK)

Filling

1 oz cornflour
½ pt water
½ oz butter
2 oz castor sugar
2 lemons (1tsp lemon rind)
2 egg yolks

Meringue

2 egg whites
2 oz granulated sugar
2 oz castor sugar

Method

1. Roll out the pastry evenly to line the flan ring.
2. Bake the pastry blind at 400°F for around 20 mins.
3. Remove 1tsp of rind from the lemons and squeeze them.
4. Separate the eggs.
5. Mix the cornflour with 4 tbsp of the cold water.
6. Boil the rest of the water in a pan.
7. Add the butter and sugar to the boiling water.
8. Stir in the cornflour mixture and bring back to boil.
9. Add the grated lemon rind and juice.
10. Lightly whisk the egg yolks and stir them into the mixture, pour into the baked flan case.
11. Whisk the egg whites into a stiff peak, sprinkle in the granulated sugar and whisk until stiff again. Fold in the castor sugar.
12. Pile the meringue onto the filling, and bake at 300°F until the topping is light brown.

Definitions

To bake: To cook in an oven.

To fold: A method of gently mixing ingredients. Usually egg whites or whipped cream are folded into a heavier mixture, for a souffle, cake, or pie filling. The lighter mixture is placed on top of the heavier mixture, then the two are combined by passing a spatula down through the mixture, across the bottom, and up over the top. This process continues until the mixtures are combined. This traps air into bubbles in the product, allowing baked goods to rise.

To grate: To rub food downwards on a grater to produce shreds or slices of varying thicknesses.

To mix: To beat or stir food ingredients together until they are combined.

To pour: To transfer a liquid from one container to another.

Rind: Sometimes known as peel or zest, the coloured outer layer of citrus rind eg lemon, orange or lime, that contains the essential oil that gives the fruit its distinctive flavour. A small amount of zest gives a strong characteristic flavour of the fruit..

To sprinkle: scatter a powdered ingredient or tiny droplets of a liquid, eg sprinkle the caster sugar over the fruit or sprinkle the brandy over the fruit cake.

To squeeze: To apply pressure to fruit or vegetables to obtain their juice.

To stir: To agitate an ingredient or a number of ingredients using a hand held tool such as a spoon.

To whisk: To beat a mixture vigorously with a whisk.

For Barbara