Raspberry Meringue Pie

A twist on a classic, with a bright tangy raspberry curd perfectly nestled between the crumbly buttery crust and a toasted marshmallow topping.

Ingredients

For the pastry shell:

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 115g unsalted butter

• 170g plain flour

• 1 egg yolk

• 1/2 tablespoon milk

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

For the raspberry curd:

• 400g raspberries

• 6 egg yolks + 1 whole egg

• 300g caster sugar

• Zest and juice of 2 lemons

• 4 tablespoons cornflour

• 170g unsalted butter, cut into cubes, room temperature

For the meringue topping:

• 200g caster sugar

• 4 egg whites

• 1/8 tsp cream of tartare

Method

For the pie crust:

In a medium bowl, combine the flour and the salt, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar until light in colour and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and the milk and whisk until combined. Begin to add the flour/salt mixture in stages, whisking as you go to combine. Bring all ingredients together just until combined, take care not to over whisk. Bring the dough into a ball, flatten slightly into a disk, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 hour.

When cooled, remove dough from fridge, and roll out until the thickness of a £1 coin. Carefully place into a tarte pan, pressing gently on to the sides. Leave 1cm overhang, prick the base with a fork a few times, then put back in the fridge for a further 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 190ºc

When shell is cooled, place in centre rack of oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until shell is golden brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly, then with a microplane grater, grate the overhang pastry until the edges are flush with the wall of the tarte case. Set aside to cool.

For the raspberry curd:

In a food processor, blitz all of the raspberries until fully blended into a thick puree. Sieve the puree into a bowl, removing all seeds. Discard seeds and set smooth puree aside.

In a medium heavy bottomed pan on medium-low heat, combine the sugar, cornflour, lemon juice and zest, and raspberry puree. Whisk mixture continuously as it cooks slowly, allowing the sugar to melt into the liquids. Keep whisking slowly until mixture begins to thicken. Once the mixture begins to bubble (this should take about 10 minutes), and is thick and pudding-like, remove from the heat.

Add cubed butter, and continue to whisk until the butter is all fully melted. Add all of the egg yolks and whole egg, whisking until fully incorporated.

Put pan back on medium-low heat, and whisking continuously keep heating the mixture until it thickens and reduces (about 10 minutes). Pour mixture into a bowl and allow to cool fully.

For the meringue topping:

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartare, then continue to whisk until soft peaks are formed. Slowly add the sugar tablespoon by tablespoon continuously whisking between each addition. Once all of the sugar has been added, continue to whisk until stiff peaks are formed.

To assemble the pie:

Pour cooled raspberry curd into the pastry shell, smoothening it with the back of a spoon.

Put stiff meringue into a piping bag with the nose of choice. Pipe meringue over the raspberry filling.

With a blow torch, toast the meringue as desired. Alternatively the meringue can also be toasted in the oven - turn broiler to highest setting and put pie into the oven for between 7-10 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on it at all times so that meringue doesn’t burn.

Serve immediately, or refrigerate for a few hours, removing from fridge half an hour before serving.