Lemon meringue pie

A couple of months ago, we had some friends over for dinner on a Saturday evening, and I wanted to venture out of my usual chocolate dessert making habit, so I thought I'd try my hand at a lemon tart. As I made the pastry and the lemon curd filling, I realised that I had a whole bunch of egg whites left over as a result of the large number of egg yolks that were required for the curd.

 So, I decided that I wouldn't let them go to waste, so whipped up (literally) a meringue to sit on top. I used a Donna Hay recipe as the basis of the tart, with some adaptations to transform it into a lemon meringue pie. I've replicated the recipe below incase anyone wants to have a go at making this beautiful citrus dessert.

You'll need:

For the base and curd:

 - 1 1/2 cups of plain flour
- 125g of unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup of icing sugar
- 2 eggs
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon of water
- 1 cup of pouring cream
- 1/2 cup of caster sugar
- 1/2 cup of lemon juice

For the meringue:

- 6 egg whites
- 1 cup of caster sugar

1. In a food processor, blend the flour, butter and icing sugar until finely crumbled

2. Add 3 of the egg yolks and blend to combine, as well as the water, to ensure the dough comes together

3. Flatten the dough out, cover with cling film, and refrigerate for 1 hour

4. Roll the pastry out so that it covers the base of a pie tin, and place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes

5. Meanwhile, whisk together the cream, eggs, remaining 3 egg yolks, sugar and lemon juice, then strain through a sieve onto the top of the cooked pastry

6. Bake the tart for a further 30 minutes, then allow to cool

7. Whisk together the egg whites and remaining sugar until stiff peaks form

8. Dollop the meringue mixture on top of the tart, then bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the meringue is slightly golden

9. Allow to cool, then serve with vanilla ice cream