Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe With Oranges & Basil

The classic lemon meringue pie recipe gets updated by Matthew Tomkinson to give it extra wow factor. Lemon cream provides a sumptuous alternative to lemon curd for this pie recipe. Prepare the ice cream and lemon cream ahead of time. You can buy the bronze gelatine required for this dessert easily online

Lemon meringue pie recipe

Dessert

Easy

1 hour 50 minutes plus freezing

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Method

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To begin this lemon meringue pie recipe, start by making the stock syrup. You will need approximately 240ml of syrup for this recipe

Making stock syrup

To make stock syrup, simply heat equal amounts of water and sugar in a pan until dissolved

To make the basil sorbet, purée the basil in a food processor and set aside. Boil the glucose, water and 50ml of the sugar syrup together in a pan. When cool, add the basil and lemon. Churn in an ice cream machine and freeze until ready to use

To make the biscuit base, preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas mark 4. Cream the butter and the sugar together and add the flour, mixing well until a dough has formed

Roll the dough into a log the same diameter as the rings you will be setting the lemon cream in. Slice 4 discs from the log and place on a baking tray. Cook for 8 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool

To make the lemon cream, first line your moulds with cling film. Boil the lemon juice, cream and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved. Add the gelatine and pass through a fine sieve. Pour the mix into your moulds and set in the fridge

For the meringue, bring the water, glucose and sugar up to 120°C in pan. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the egg whites and whisk until cool. Place in a piping bag with a star nozzle

To make the poached oranges, cut the oranges into segments, making sure to remove all the pith and membrane. Boil 185ml of the sugar syrup in a pan, add the oranges and stir, then take off the heat

To serve, place a biscuit disc into the middle of a serving plate, top with a turned out lemon cream and then pipe ‘spikes’ of meringue on top

Glaze the meringue with a blow torch and surround with segments of the poached orange. Finish the lemon meringue pie with a small scoop of the basil sorbet and serve

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Ingredients

Lemon cream

2 lemons, juiced and zested
140g of caster sugar
425ml of double cream
1 bronze gelatine leaf

Lemon meringue pie topping

120g of caster sugar
1 tbsp of glucose syrup
water
2 egg whites

Biscuit base

225g of butter
112g of caster sugar
340g of plain flour

Basil sorbet

50ml of glucose
100ml of water
1/2 lemon, juiced
20g of basil leaves, finely chopped

Poached oranges

2 oranges, peeled

Stock sugar syrup

caster sugar
water

Equipment

Food processor or blender
Blow torch
Sugar thermometer
Piping bag with star nozzle
4 small ring moulds

This lemon meringue pie recipe gets an added touch of class through the combination of orange and basil. A lemon meringue pie recipe to get people talking