Lemon Meringue Pie

(taken from "Comfort Food" by Rick Rodgers - Williams Sonoma)

Went out of my cooking comfort zone yesterday - and today - to bake my first pie! I'm usually not one for anything that takes more than a half hour of prep, but it seems to have been a success.

I started this on Saturday night, ran out of time, and had to finish the next day. Also, I took some shortcuts on the crust. Advance warning - this is a long one - both length of the recipe itself and the time it takes to make.

OK, here goes:

CRUST
Flour, 1 1/4 cups
Sugar, 1 tbsp
Salt, 1/4 tsp
Unsalted butter, 5 tbsp, chilled
Vegetable shortening, 2 tbsp, chilled
Ice water, 1/4 cup

Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter and shortening into chunks and scatter over the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender (what?) or 2 knives (I used my hands, frankly), cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture just until the mixture forms large, coarse crumbs.

Pour the ice water over the flour mixture and toss it together with a form until the dough forms moist clumps.

Form the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes or up to two hours. (Note - I was running out of time, so I stuck it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Then I ran out of time while I was rolling it out, so I ended up refrigerating it, formed into the pie dish, overnight. Turned out good enough despite all that.)

FILLING
Crust (above)
Eggs, 8
Sugar, 2 cups plus 2 tbsp
Cornstarch, 1/4 cup
Fresh Meyer lemon juice, 1 cup
Salt, 1/4 teaspoon
Unsalted butter, 4 tbsp, cut into tbsp
Finely-grated Meyer lemon zest, from 3 lemons

Unwrap your dough onto a floured work surface and dust it with flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a round about 12 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick (you don't have to worry about it being too even, because you'll have to trim the sides anyway). Transfer to a 9-inch pie dish, fitting the dough to the bottom and sides of the dish. Trim the over-long edges off, leaving a bit of an overhang. Fold the overhang under itself, then "flute" the edge with your fingers: give it ridges just along the edge. Use a fork to pierce the dough all over. Line it all with aluminum foil and freeze for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 375. Put the dough-lined dish on a baking sheet and fill it with pie weights. (What? I know. Turns out you can just fill it with rice. It keeps it from getting bubbly. Note that the aluminum is still on at this point.) Bake about 12-15 minutes. Take it out, remove foil and weights, put it back in until it's golden brown - another 12-15 minutes. Take it out and let it cool while you make the filling. Raise the oven temp to 400.

Beat the 3 eggs until blended. Separate the yolks and whites of the remaining 5 eggs, adding the yolks to the beaten whole eggs and putting the whites in a separate large bowl. Cover those whites and set them aside at room temp. Beat the yolks into the beaten eggs. In another bowl, whisk 1 1/2 cups of the sugar and the cornstarch, then whisk in the beaten eggs, lemon juice, and salt. Transfer this to a heavy saucepan over medium heat, and heat it until it comes to a full boil, whisking almost the whole time. It should get nice and thick. Reduce the heat to low and let it bubble for 30 seconds. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the butter. Strain through a coarse mesh sieve into a bowl to get rid of any pieces of cooked egg white. Stir in the lemon zest, then pour it all into the baked crust.

OK, almost done! Using a handheld mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat in the remaining 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar, one tbsp at a time, until it becomes very thick and shiny. Use a spatula to spread this over the filling, making sure the meringue touches the crust on all sides. Swirl the meringue around and make peaks. Pop it in the oven until the peaks get golden brown, about 5 minutes. Take it out and let it cool for at least 3 hours. If you like it nice and cool, put it in the fridge.