Continuing with the Gift of Lemons theme, it goes without saying that the first item I used the lemons for was a lemon merangue pie. I used Alton Brown's recipe from his "I'm Just Here For More Food" book, (the sequel to his also excellent "Im Just Here For the Food".)
Lemon pie is a custard filling that requires patience to see that the custard is nice and thick before moving on to the baking phase. I found that this required a little bit more time than the one or two minutes stated in Alton's recipe. I am not a big fan of merangue, so I prefer Alton's light touch with that garnish. I also discovered that this pie was far superior to the first one I baked, whch I considered to be too sweet. This pie was tart and lemony perfection. The reason? The lemons were much more tart than the store bought ones I used previously. The lesson for me here is to taste and understand the specific qualities of the fresh produce I am using; Not all lemons are created equally in terms of flavor. As a rookie, I have tended to follow recipes too closely in the past. Now I know I can modify to my taste, even in the relatively precise art of baking. I saw Alton make a lemon curd on his tv show this past week and I know I will be trying that soon. Have I mentioned that Alton is my favorite food tv chef? It has become a nightly ritual in our house to watch his show right after dinner (cleaning up the kitchen during the commercials if need be). Even my two sons (ages 15 and 19) are fans. Last night my son Evan said, "I wish he (Alton) would do a show on salads" (because of our recent adventures with beet salad....another story....) and bingo! That very night Alton was doing just that!
We love Alton. Just so you know.
Comments