I love coming across old, but new, recipes and this one had a lemon burst like no other. It is made with whole lemons and at the moment New Zealand lemons are in their prime.
Photo: Simon Lambert
Lemon pie
Makes 10-12 slices
Ingredients
Pastry
3 cups white flour
1 Tbsp sugar
pinch salt
300g butter, cold and cut into small pieces
½ cup ice water, plus more if needed
Filling
4 unwaxed lemons
1 cup sugar, plus 1 Tbsp for decorating
6 whole free range eggs
1 egg white, for glazing
Method
Allow 24 hours for the lemons to macerate with the sugar, this is very important as the juice from the lemons seeps into the sugar and dissolves it as well as softening the rind.
Wash the lemons and pat dry. Slice as thinly as possible into rounds (the thinner the better).
Put these into a non-reactive bowl along with the sugar, stir to combine, cover and allow to sit for about 24 hours, stir occasionally.
To make the pastry, add the flour, sugar and salt to the bowl of your food processor and blend lightly.
Add the butter bit by bit until a coarse texture occurs.
Slowly pour in the water, with the food processor running until the dough starts to form a ball.
Stop and turn out the dough on to your bench. Mould together, divide into two and wrap in cling film. Chill over night or until needed (at least 30 minutes resting).
The next day, roll out the pastry to fit either a round 20cm pie dish or another suitable dish.
You need to line the base and sides of your tin and the remaining piece will be used to enclose the pie.
Preheat your oven to 200degC.
To make the filling, beat the eggs lightly in a bowl and add the lemon and sugar mixture. Mix well to combine.
Pour into your pastry-lined tin.
Carefully lay the pastry to cover the pie, press firmly around the edges to secure and remove excess pastry. Put a couple of incisions in the top.
Brush neatly with egg white, sprinkle over a little sugar.
Reduce the oven to 180degC and bake until golden (30-40 minutes).
Remove and cool before serving.
