Recipes
Bring together all generations to enjoy these crowd-pleasing, accessible and budget-friendly recipes by Theo Michaels
LEMON & THYME MERINGUE PIE
A twist on the beloved classic. The homemade curd is delicious in its own right – Ikeep any leftovers in a jar and stir it into Greek yoghurt, use it to fill a cake or just spread it on toast.
● 4 egg yolks
● 60g cornflour
● ½ tsp thyme leaves
● 150g white caster sugar
● 4 lemons, juice and finely grated zest
● Apinch of salt
● 40g butter
● 4 egg whites
● 1 tbsp cornflour
● Apinch of cream of tartar
● ½ tsp vanilla extract
● 100g caster sugar
● 25cm tart tin/pan
● Shortcrust pastry block, or, for ease a ready-made, shop-bought shortcrust pastry tart case
1. Roll out the shop bought pastry into a tart case or prepare the shop-bought one. After baking the pastry as per the instructions, reduce the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/350°F/gas 4.
2. To make the lemon and thyme curd, separate the egg yolks from the whites into two separate bowls. Beat the egg yolks. Place the cornflour, thyme leaves, sugar and 300ml cold water in a saucepan and heat over a medium heat, whisking continuously – it will turn into a thick paste in seconds, and as soon as it does, remove from the heat.
3. Add a tablespoon of the paste to the beaten egg yolks in a bowl and whisk. Continue this process – tempering the egg yolks – until you have used at least half of the paste. Then transfer the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan – off the heat – with the remaining paste and whisk until fully incorporated. Return the saucepan to the heat and whisk in the lemon juice, zest, a pinch of salt and the butter. Continue whisking at a leisurely pace for about 3 minutes, or until the mixture starts to bubble – be careful, it will be very hot. Remove from the heat – you now have a gorgeous lemon and thyme curd.
4. To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until they turn opaque, then add the cornflour, cream of tartar and vanilla extract. Keep whisking until soft peaks start to form, then add half the sugar and whisk. Once incorporated, whisk in the remaining sugar until you get firm peaks and immediately stop. You don’t want to over-whisk it.
5. Fill the cooled pastry base with the curd and level the surface with the back of a spoon. Add spoonfuls of the meringue to cover the surface of the curd, ensuring it touches the pastry case edge – this helps ‘anchor’ the meringue. Use the back of the spoon to create peaks all over the tart top and make the meringue look pretty.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the meringue is lightly golden. Leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes before slicing to serve.
CREAMY SMOKED HADDOCK & MUSSEL CHOWDER
