They say when life gives you lemons make lemonade! And in my opinion, when life gives you January make lemon meringue pie!
This theory draws on Nordic Hygge rhetoric, especially the practice of enjoying something from summer in the winter months. Many Nordics throughout the summer gather all the beautiful berries and make freezer jam. This jam then reappears in the darkest and coldest months when berries are only a distant memory to truly brighten the days. Such bold, zingy and sweet summer flavours certainly cant help but bring back memories of lighter, warmer and more fragrant times.
If you wish to try this theory out for yourself and make your January that bit less grey, then give my recipe below for lemon meringue pie with a raspberry jam centre a go. I’ve also made it easy peasy, a cheat lemon meringue pie because…well…it’s January!
INGREDIENTS
1 Sheet of Ready Rolled Shortcrust Pastry
2 Lemons
1 Can of Condensed Milk (397g)
3 Eggs – separated into whites and yolks
165g Caster Sugar
4 extra tbsp of Caster Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Essence
300g Raspberries
200ml water
METHOD
Line a pie dish with the pastry, pierce the bottom with a fork and cover with baking paper. It is important here not to cut the pastry at the sides back to the pie dish – it shrinks when cooking!Next blind bake using baking beans for 10 minutes at 180°C. Once the pastry starts to golden remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.
Whilst the pie shell is cooling, mix together the lemon filling. This couldn’t be simpler! Combine together and whisk the condensed milk, juice and zest from two lemons and the 3 egg yolks. Once this mixture is smooth, pour into the pie case. Then taking a quarter of the raspberries dot these around the pie. Then place back in the oven to cook for another 20 minutes, until the mixture is firm and the pastry crisp and golden in colour.
For the filling, take the remaining raspberries, 200ml of water, 4 tbsp of sugar and the vanilla essence and bring to the boil in a saucepan. once boiling, let the jam mixture simmer and reduce for a further 10 minutes or until it has thickened and easily coats the back of a spoon. Remove this from the heat and pass through a sieve using a spatula to separate the jam and the pips. Next, pour this raspberry jam and spread over the lemon on the pie and put aside to set.
To make the meringue top, whisk up the remaining egg whites until they form stiff peaks using a food processor. Taking the sugar, place this on a baking tray and in the oven for five minutes to heat up. Then, spoon the warm sugar into the egg whites gradually with the whisk on a medium speed. Once all spooned in, turn up the speed and leave for 10 minutes or so, or until the meringue mixture is firm.
To apply the meringue, either using a spatula and palette knife to completely top the pie or using a piping bag and round nozzle pipe little kisses to cover the pie. If you went with the former, then place the pie back in the oven for another 15 minutes to allow the meringue to crisp. If the latter, take a blow torch and colour the kisses.
To finish, sprinkle over some freeze-dries rasperries and edible glitter to make your January sparkle too!
Next, enjoy and let January be! It’ll soon be summer again!
A little Tasty 