Lime and Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie

Keeping with my tradition of Bon Appetit desserts, I continued my way through the Pie issue (August 2011 ) and decided to try the Lime and Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie.

I had a few issues with this one. Kind of a sloppy, gloppy mess, all piled into a pie shell. But, it tasted great, so I am telling myself that's all that counts.

Here's my pie:

















Here's the pie in the Bon Appetit magazine:



















There's a couple of notable differences:

#1. My pie appears to have been assembled by a first grader. And, while I have a first grader in the house that I could blame it on, I will have to take credit for this one.

#2. The pie in the Bon Appetit picture has a crust. Mine has parts of a crust appearing up over the sides, but most are buried. This is because my crust "shrunk down" on me while I was baking it. These blind baked pie crusts are harder than they look.

#3. The meringue on the Bon Appetit pie appears to be centered. Mine is sliding off of one side.

So, there were a few issues, and I'll make some notes in the recipe on things I would change. The lime curd was fantastic, but there is way too much meringue piled on top of the pie. To me, the curd is the star of the show, so no reason to drown it out with all of that meringue. I would cut the meringue in half.

Ingredients

Lime Curd

• 1 cup fresh lime juice
• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
• 3/4 cup chilled heavy cream

Blackberry Compote

• 1 cup fruity red wine, such as Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 cups blackberries
• 1 Blind-Baked Pie Crust in a 9" deep-dish glass or metal pie pan (see Master Pie Crust recipe)

Meringue

• 3 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup blackberries (about 1/2 pint)

Preparation

Lime Curd

• Set a strainer over a medium bowl; set aside. Stir lime juice, eggs, egg yolks, and sugar together in another medium bowl. Set bowl over a large saucepan of gently simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water). Whisk until mixture has thickened, the whisk leaves a path when lifted from curd, and an instant-read thermometer registers 175°, about 15 minutes. Add butter to curd, one Tbsp. at a time, whisking to blend between additions.
  

  

• Strain curd into prepared bowl. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of curd. Chill until cold, about 2 hours. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Refrigerate curd.
• Sprinkle gelatin over 2 Tbsp. water in a small bowl; let stand until gelatin is soft, about 10 minutes. Using an electric mixer, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add gelatin mixture; continue beating cream until just before firm peaks form. Fold whipped cream into lime curd. Cover; chill.

Blackberry Compote

• Bring red wine, sugar, and 1/2 cup water to a simmer in a medium saucepan over high heat; reduce heat to medium and simmer until reduced to 1/2 cup, 20-25 minutes. Let cool. Add 3 cups berries; fold gently to coat.

Here, I think 1/2 cup of liquid is way too much. Use a slotted spoon to remove the blackberries, or you will have liquid sitting at the bottom of your pie.

• Spread compote in an even layer over baked crust. Spoon lime curd over berries, smooth top, and chill for 1 hour.

Meringue

• If toasting meringue in oven, preheat oven to 450°. Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat whites in mixer until soft peaks form. Set aside. Stir sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Attach a candy thermometer to side of pan. Increase heat to medium-high and boil without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush, until thermometer registers 238°, 6-8 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
• Meanwhile, beat whites in mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in salt.
• Slowly pour hot sugar syrup down side of bowl into whites and beat until meringue is firm and glossy. Continue beating until cool, about 4 minutes. Spoon meringue over lime curd, leaving a 1" plain border, and sculpt decoratively. Tuck 1 cup berries in and around meringue.
• Bake pie until meringue is toasted in spots, 3-5 minutes (or use a kitchen torch to brown). Chill for 30 minutes before serving. Do Ahead: Pie can be made 3 hours ahead. Keep chilled.

Master Pie Crust
Makes 2 crusts

August 2011

Ingredients

* 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
* 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
* 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
* 1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp. sugar
* 1 tablespoon kosher salt

*
Process flour, butter, vegetable shortening, sugar, and salt in a food processor until butter resembles tiny pebbles, about 25 seconds. Transfer to a large bowl. Gradually add 3/4 cup ice water, using a fork to stir until dough is a mixture of clumpy wet pieces and sandier pieces, adding more water by tablespoonfuls if dry. Press plastic wrap over surface of dough. Chill in the bowl at least 1 hour or over night.


For a blind-baked pie crust:

*
Preaheat oven to 375°. Prick chilled crust in pie dish (see instructions, above) all over with a fork. Line crust with foil or parchment paper. Fill with dried beans or pie weights.

Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven; lift out foil and weights. Reduce temperature to 350°. Return to oven and bake, using fork to prick any bubbles that have formed and pressing down on them with back of fork, until crust is light golden brown, 20-25 minutes longer. Let crust cool completely.

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