Lemon and Blueberry Meringue Pie - by Phoebe Woods & Kirsten Jenkins

Ingredients

"There could not be a pie book without a lemon meringue pie! But why make it a long, process-heavy pie when you can get the same result from a much quicker and easier recipe?! This recipe uses store-bought lemon curd, with the addition of fresh blueberries and simple meringue piped on top. The inspiration for this inventive meringue swirl came from a story Phoebe wrote for delicious. magazine. We loved the result of that pie and wanted to re-create it for this book. The deep charred marshmallow meringue you see is achieved by using a kitchen blowtorch. If you don't have a blowtorch, put your pie under a piping hot grill (broiler) for 1–2 minutes until nice and caramelised." - Kirsten.

1/2 × 435 g (15½ oz) frozen Careme vanilla bean pastry, thawed, or other bought sweet shortcrust rolled to a thickness of 3 mm (1/8 in)
250 g (9 oz) mascarpone cheese
315 g (11 oz/1 cup) lemon curd
125 g (4½ oz) fresh blueberries
3 egg whites
160 g (5½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar

Method

Use the pastry to line a 16 cm (6¼ in) springform cake tin, roughly folding in the edges. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Line the pastry case with baking paper and fill with baking beads (or uncooked rice or dried beans). Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is a light golden colour, then remove the paper and baking beads, and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the base is golden and dry to the touch. Cool completely and carefully remove from the cake tin.

Fold the mascarpone, lemon curd and blueberries together in a bowl. Spread the mixture in the base of the pastry case.

Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites and sugar together for 10 minutes until stiff and glossy and the sugar has dissolved. Transfer to a piping (icing) bag fitted with a 1 cm (½ in) nozzle and pipe a spiral of meringue over the filling. Using a kitchen blowtorch, caramelise the meringue and serve immediately.

Credits: This is an edited extract from The Pie Project by Phoebe Woods & Kirsten Jenkins, published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $29.99.

Photo Credits: This is an edited extract from The Pie Project by Phoebe Woods & Kirsten Jenkins, published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $29.99.