:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter,
cut into bits and frozen
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
cut into bits and frozen
1 tablespoon ice water
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Raw rice for weighting the shell
For the filling:
12 large egg yolks
1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 5 lemons)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter
For the meringue:
1 cup egg whites
2 cups superfine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Make the shell: In a bowl stir together the flour, sugar, and a
pinch
of salt, add the butter and the shortening, and blend the mixture until it
resembles
coarse meal. Add the ice water and the lemon juice and toss
the mixture with a fork until
it forms a dough. Form the dough into a
ball, flatten it slightly, and dust it lightly
with flour. Chill the dough,
wrapped in wax paper, for 30 minutes.
On a lightly floured
surface roll the dough into a 12-inch round,
fit it
into a 10-inch glass pie plate (1
1/2
quarts) and crimp the edge decora-
tively. Prick the shell in several places with a fork and
freeze it for at
least 30 minutes or overnight. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line the
shell
with foil, fill the foil with the rice, and bake the shell in the middle
of the oven for
10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F.
and bake the shell for 25 minutes more.
Remove the foil and rice care-
fully, bake the shell 5 minutes more, or until it is pale
golden, and let it
cool in the pan on a rack.
Make the filling: In a bowl whisk together the yolks, lemon
juice, and
sugar until the sugar is dissolved, strain the mixture through a fine sieve
set
over a heavy saucepan, and stir in the zest and the butter. Cook the
mixture over
moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until it registers 140
degrees F. on a candy
thermometer and cook it at 140 degrees F., stirring
constantly, for 3 minutes more (do not let
the mixture boil). Transfer the
filling to a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and cold
water and let it cool,
stirring occasionally, until it is the consistency of raw egg
white. Pour the
filling into the shell and bake the pie in the middle of the 350-degree F.
oven
for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the filling is just set. Chill the pie for at
least 3 hours
or overnight.
Make the meringue: Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a bowl with an
electric mixer beat the whites until they are frothy, add the sugar, a little
at a time,
and beat the whites until they hold stiff peaks. Fold in the
vanilla. Pile meringue on
top of the filling, making decorative peaks,
and bake the pie in the middle of the oven
for 7 minutes, or until the
meringue is golden brown. Chill the pie for 3 hours, or until
it is set.
Featured Archive Recipes:
Lemon Ice Box Pie
Lemon-Passion Fruit Meringue Pie
Lemon Ripple Ice Cream Pie
World's Best Lemon Tart
Index - Pie Recipe Archives
Basic Pie Crust Recipes
The Rites of Spring!
Daily Recipe Index
Recipe Archives Index
Recipe Search