When Life Gives You Lemons - Lemon Swiss Meringue Pie

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving and we only had 2 pies.  Mom made a Huckleberry Tart, and I had made a Pumpkin Chiffon.  OH, HECK NO! not in this pie-centric family.  That's a recipe for disaster. A Pie-mergency, a Pie-tastrophy, A-pie-calypes Now!! So, I threw together my version of Lemon Meringue Pie.

Lemon Meringue is one of those weird pies.  It's really simple, but really difficult at the same time.  Then again, I tend to make things difficult for myself all the time.  It's just my nature.  I have never been happy with a raw French Meringue on my Lemon pie. (just beating sugar and egg whites to stiff peaks)  It shrinks, it weeps, it separates from the lemon filling and has a slightly funny texture to me.   I much prefer the smooth and somewhat velvety texture of a Swiss Meringue.   Thus the difficult part of the pie making process. 

You will see what I am talking about as I go through this recipe. 

Lemon Swiss Meringue Pie

1/2 recipe Pâte Brisée, pre-baked in a 9-inch pie plate 
3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 cups Water
1/3 cup Cornstarch (I actually prefer Arrowroot Powder, but I was out)
1/3 cup Water
4 large Eggs, Separated
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1 TB Butter
Zest of 1/2 a Lemon
2/3 cup Granulated Sugar
3/4 tsp Cream of Tarter

OK, so you need to have a pre-baked (not par-baked) 9-inch pie shell.

In a saucepan, combine 3/4 cup Sugar and 1 1/2 cups Water, then set it over medium flame.

Bring this to a boil.

In the meantime, combine 1/3 cup Water with 1/3 cup Cornstarch in a small pitcher, mixing well to form a slurry; then set aside.

Separate the eggs, setting the whites aside for later, and beat the yolks.

Squeeze the lemons and add the juice to the yolks, stirring well to combine.

By now the Sugar/Water mixture should be boiling, so add the cornstarch, whisking constantly.

Continue whisking until the mixture bubbles and is clear.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the Lemon/Egg Yolk mixture, again, whisking constantly.

Return the saucepan to the heat and continue stirring and cooking until it begins to bubble again.

Remove from the heat again and stir in the Butter and the Lemon Zest.

Pour into the pre-baked Pie shell.

OK, now that was the easiest part... Now for the fun part.

Preheat the oven to 325F degrees.
Place a saucepan of water on high heat and bring to a simmer.
Place the Egg Whites in a heat safe bowl, and add the 2/3 cup Sugar and the Cream of Tarter.

Set the bowl over the simmering water and begin whisking until the sugar dissolves.
Once the sugar has dissolved and the egg whites begin to get foamy, grab a temperature gauge and continue whisking and cooking until it reaches 145 F (62 C) degrees.

Remove the bowl from the simmering water and pour the contents into your stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment.

Now is the time to "put the spurs" to the Egg Whites.  (Whip them until they cool and form stiff peaks)

Spread the Swiss meringue all over the warm filling (the hotter the lemon filling, the better the adhesion) being sure to seal the meringue down to the crust edge.

I like to make mine all spiky looking.

Place the entire pie in the oven for about 20 minutes (or longer if you like darker tips)

Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

There you have it, a simple recipe made more difficult by yours truly.  :)

Incidentally, Lemon Meringue Pie should NEVER be placed in the refrigerator.  I don't care what type of Meringue you make, French, Italian or Swiss, the damp air of the refrigerator will make Meringue weep.  (as you can see on the slice above, after it spent 6 hours in the refrigerator)  Lemon Meringue pie is really meant to be eaten within 4 hours of making it. 

Look at it this way, everything is cooked at this point, the Egg Yolk were cooked when making the filling, the Egg Whites were actually cooked twice. Once to 145 degrees and then again in the oven when browned.  There is plenty of sugar and/or acid in both parts to arrest any bacteria growth for at least that long.  So keep it at room temperature and consume fairly quickly.  :)

Happy ThanksGiving to all, and to all a Good Appetite!
~~

Tiny Dancer in My Hand - Tiny Tayberry Pavlovas

Ya know how your brain sometime works like a bad internet search engine?   ---queue the Bing! commercial here.
A friend of mine, who just so happens to be the extremely talented writer of Ravenmarked, was mentioning a terrible cover of Elton John's Tiny Dancer the other day on Facebook.  I was extremely sympathetic to her plight, as I have heard several "covers" over the years that made my ears bleed.  That was when my search engine kicked in.

I am sure it was triggered by the fact that as soon as "Tiny Dancer" was mentioned, the lyrics began flashing through my cortex. And the random search began.  My engine focused one particular line; "Ballerina, you must have seen her....  Dancin' in the sand..."    OK try to stay with me as I take you through the recesses of my hypothalamus.  For some weird reason, the sand made me think of surfing in Australia.  I really don't know why I have never surfed in my life much less been to Australia... But then the connection with dancing was made to Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova.   You see, when Anna Pavlova toured through New Zealand and Australia, they names a dessert after her.  OK, so now I moved on to making a Pavlova (I just happen to have some Tayberries, which will be GREAT on top)  But I wanted them to be individual sized.... "Tiny Pavlova in my hand"   

Now that I have everyone convinced that I am certifiably insane, or at least that there is something wrong with the way my synapses fire, on with the Tayberry Pavlovas....

I will warn you that I am cheating... I had egg whites in the refrigerator, but I didn't want to wait for them to warm to room temperature, so I decided to use the Swiss Meringue method, instead of French or Italian.  One other thing.  What distinguishes Pavlova Meringue from other hard meringues is the addition of some cornstarch.  It helps to keep the center a little more marshmallow-y even after drying, thus giving the Pavlova it's unique texture.

Pavlovas have 3 steps - Meringue, Cream or Mouse, and finally the fruit topping and garnish.

Miniature Tayberry Pavlova

(with Blood Orange Glaze)

Meringue Base:
6 large Egg Whites
1 1/2 cups of Granulated Sugar (that is 4 TB per large egg white)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp Cream of Tarter
2 tsp Corn Starch
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

On a piece of parchment, use a pencil to draw or trace a 4 inch round.

Turn the parchment over (cause you don't want graphite in your meringues) and use the rounds as guides.

Place a sauce pan of water over medium-high flame.

Place the Egg Whites, Sugar, Salt, Cream of Tarter, Corn Starch and Vanilla Extract in the bowl of your electric mixer and set this over the simmering water.

Heat the mixture, while whisking constantly, until it comes to 120 degrees. (this ensures that the sugar is dissolved completely, thus creating a more stable meringue)

Remove the bowl from the simmering water and place it on your mixer base that has been fitted with a whisk attachment.

Whisk on high speed until a thick shiny meringue is formed.

While you are beating the meringue, begin heating your oven to 200 degrees (it will only take about 10 minutes)
Spoon about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the Swiss Meringue into the middle of each traced round.

Smooth to the edges of the lines with a spatula or a spoon (alternatively, you can use a piping bag and pipe rounds)

Place the baking sheet into the oven and "dry" the meringues for 1 1/2 hours, then turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the oven to cool for 1 hour longer.

Remove them from the oven and peel them from the parchment very carefully.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or continue with the next step. (this will make 12 4-inch pavlova bases)

Lemon Cream filling:
1/3 cup Confectioners' Sugar
3 TB Lemon Juice
1/2 cup (4 oz) Crème Fraîche 
1 1/2 cups (12 oz) Heavy Cream
Zest of 1 Lemon

In a medium bowl, combine Confectioners' sugar and Lemon juice.

Whisk until the sugar dissolves,

Add Crème Fraîche and whisk until smooth

Add Heavy cream

and Lemon zest.

Whisk the Mixture until it just begins to thicken. (you want a fairly "soft " whipped cream, to contrast with the crisp Meringue)

Cover with plastic and chill for 2 hours (it will thicken a little more in the refrigerator because it contains Crème Fraîche)

Blood Orange Glaze:
Before I get into this, mind you I was in a hurry, I was having an obsessive moment and Blood Oranges are not in season right now.  (sigh)  Luckily World Market's Blood Orange Soda is made with juice and cane sugar, so in a way, it just saved some steps.  I will admit it's still a little cheesy in a way, but it worked fairly well.  Next time though, I want to make Blood Orange Coulee instead of a glaze

12 oz Blood Orange Italian Soda
1 TB Lemon Juice

Pour soda and lemon juice in a small sauce pan.

Simmer over medium-low flame until reduced to a mere 3 oz.

Cover and chill.

Assembly:

Meringue disk
Lemon Cream
Tayberries
Blood Orange Sauce

So what is a Tayberry?  It is a bramble berry hybrid from Scotland created by crossing a Logan Berry with a Black Raspberry.  Logan Berries in and of themselves are a hybrid, being a Blackberry crossed with Raspberry.  Tayberries have an incredible scent and flavor almost like a rose, but not quite. 

Place a Meringue disk on a plate.

Spoon Lemon Cream on top of that.

Top with fresh Tayberries.

Drizzle with Blood Orange Glaze.

And consume with great vigor.... Thus the mini-pavlova or tiny dancer in my hand.

Though in all honesty, you should probably leave is on the plate and eat it with a fork.

Mangia!!
~~