Lemon Meringue Pie
9" baked pie shell
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon corn starch
1 1/2 cups water
3 egg yolk, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/2 cup lemon juice
Mix sugar and cornstarch in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in water. Cook over medium heat,stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Gradually stir at least half of the hot mixture into egg yolks. Now pour tempered egg yolks into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter, lemon peel, and lemon juice. Pour into cooled, baked pie shell. Heap meringue onto hot pie filling and bake at 400° for about 10 minutes or until light brown.
When cooking with lemons, I always like to zest all my lemons and set the leftover zest aside for later use. What later use, you may ask? Well, here's a hint:
Just put your lemon zest in a bowl with salt and mix it all up. Store in an airtight container. This is great on fish, asparagus and just about anything that you put salt and lemon on. Rimming a glass with this salt makes for a great margarita. You can also make lemon sugar with the zest by using sugar instead of the salt. Lemon sugar is great used in baking, sprinkling on muffins and makes a great glass of iced tea. Have fun with all your options!
