in the kitchen
Ingredients
- 250 g plain flour
- 125 g cold butter, cubed
- 50 g icing sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 3 tbsp cold water
- Zest and juice of 4 lemons (about 140 ml juice)
- 4 whole eggs + 2 extra yolks
- 180 g caster sugar for curd
- 120 g butter for curd
- 150 g caster sugar for meringue
- 3 egg whites
Method
1
Pulse flour, butter and icing sugar until breadcrumb texture. Add yolks and water; form dough. Chill 30 minutes, then blind-bake at 180 C for 20 minutes.
2
Whisk lemon juice, zest, eggs, yolks and sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Add butter piece by piece, stirring constantly until thick. Pour into shell and bake 10 minutes.
3
Make Italian meringue: boil sugar and water to 118 C, pour onto whipping egg whites while beating. Pipe or spread over cooled curd.
4
Toast meringue with a kitchen blowtorch or under a hot grill for 2 minutes until tips are golden.