Prepping for Pi Day: Fresh Lemon Pie

In the Jewish tradition, trees are planted to commemorate the birth of a child.   When a boy is born, the foreskin is buried beneath the tree following the circumcision.  The tree is supposed to grow along with the child, and when the child marries, the branches are used to create the chuppah, or wedding canopy.

We chose to use a lemon tree which has (4 years later) finally started fruiting!  Which is pretty exciting.  I mean, we got 2 weird looking lemons that never turned yellow last year, but this year we've got multiple lemons, and more on the way by the way this thing is flowering. 

So I really wanted to use the lemons to make a pie for this year's Pi Day pie.  Only problem?  I've never made a lemon pie before.  TMIL makes lemon meringue pie, and while in general my takes on her "classics" come out better than the original, this is one I just wasn't willing to mess with.  Not with Thatboy's obvious affection for it.  I didn't want to risk the comparison.

But, I can follow a recipe, and so I pulled out my James Beard Cookbook and gave it a shot.  And you guys?  The recipe was just no good.  No really.  I ended up with lemon soup instead of lemon curd and when I tried to figure out why I stumbled upon the fact that EVERY other lemon meringue pie recipe calls for boiling the filling, while my recipe tells you to take the filling off heat just before it boils.  Which (I learned) makes the cornstarch never activate and the filling never thicken.   I will say though, that Thatboy happily ate the pie with a spoon from a bowl and declared it the best lemon curd he's ever eaten.

Meanwhile I decided to move on to the next lemon pie recipe and see if I stood a better shot at that.  This one creates a lemon marmalade instead of a curd - using the entire lemon, peels and all.  Learning from my last mistake, I cooked this one for much longer than the recipe called for, making sure it got very thick before removing it from the heat.  In various forums I read, I noticed they mentioned you should be able to cut through the filling with a knife before putting it in the crust. 

And this time the filling set up!  A nice, tart filling that's perfect for the upcoming spring, holidays, and even Pi Day next week!

Fresh Lemon Pie  (From James Beard's American Cookery)

1 cup thin slices of unpeeled lemon

1 1/2 cups water

2 cups + 6 Tbsp sugar, divded

3 eggs, divided into whites and yolks

7 Tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt, divided

2 Tbsp butter

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 pie dough, pressed into a pie pan and baked

1. Place the lemon slices and water in a saucepan and simmer for 10-20 minutes (until the lemon rinds are very tender).
2. Add 1 cup sugar and simmer until sugar has dissolved.
3. Combine remaining sugar with the egg yolks, flour, and 1/4 tsp salt.
4. Temper the egg mixture by stirring in some of the hot lemon water.
5. When well combined, stir all the yolk mixture into the hot lemon water.  Continue to stir and cook over low heat until the mixture is thick (this took me almost 20 minutes.)
6. Add the butter and cool to room temperature.
7. Pour the filling into the crust and let cool completely.
8. Make the meringue topping. Preheat oven to 350. Beat the egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form.
9. Add the tartar and remaining salt.  Continue beating until stiff peaks form.
10. Slowly add the sugar and beat until combined.
11. Spoon the filling onto the pie and bake for 18 minutes.
12. Let cool completely before cutting!