Rhubarb & Custard Meringue Pie

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

200g Butter, cold and diced

400g Plain flour

100g Icing sugar, sifted

1 Egg

2 tblsp Milk

For the custard:

5 Egg yolks

300ml Double cream

50g Caster sugar

1 Vanilla pod

For the Rhubarb layer:

400g Rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces

3 tblsp Apple juice

2 tblsp honey

1.5 tblsp Ultratex (modified Maize starch)

For the meringue:

160g Egg white (approx 4)

225g Caster sugar

A pinch of salt

Method:

For the pastry:

• Place the flour and butter in a bowl and sieve the icing sugar in. Rub the butter into the flour until evenly mixed and there are no lumps of butter.
• Add the egg and milk and bring together to form a dough but do not overwork.
• Divide into two balls, cling film individually.
• You only need one of these balls for this recipe so refrigerate one for half an hour, the other can be frozen for another tart.
• After the pastry has rested in the fridge remove and roll on a lightly floured surface into a circle about the thickness of a two pound coin (2-3mm)
• Carefully transfer into a lightly greased 9 inch/23cm tart tin. Make sure the pastry is flush to the sides and into the corners, trim the excess pastry from the edges.
• Place the tart into the fridge to rest for thirty minutes.

• 9Pre heat an oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F) gas mark 4
• Line the inside of the pastry with two layers of tin foil and fill with baking beans (or use rice or dried beans)
• Bake for 15 minutes then remove the foil and bake for a further 5 minutes, the pastry should be just cooked and mostly uncoloured.

Tip: If you notice any small gaps or cracks whilst cooking your pastry, brush a little egg yolk on them and put back in the oven to make a seal your tart filling mix won’t escape from.

For the custard layer:

• Pre-heat an oven to 110 degrees C (225 degrees F) gas mark 0.25
• Pour the cream into a saucepan and cut the vanilla pod length ways, scrape the seeds out and put both the seeds and pod into the cream.
• In a bowl beat together the egg yolks and caster sugar.
• Heat the cream and vanilla pods until just before boiling point and pour onto the egg yolks and sugar, whisk thoroughly.
• Allow the mixture to cool before passing through a sieve.
• Pour the mixture into the baked tart case (it should fill about half way) and transfer to the middle shelf of the oven, bake fot 30 minutes or until the mixture sets firm, don’t allow it to bubble up.
• When set remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature before transferring to the fridge to chill for a further hour.

For the rhubarb layer:

• Heat a frying pan on the stove and add the rhubarb pieces, the apple juice and the honey.
• Cook on a low heat, stirring until the rhubarb has softened.
• Transfer the rhubarb to a colander sat over a bowl to catch the juices and allow to cool.
• Take the rhubarb juice (there should be about 300ml ) and steadily sprinkle the ultratex starch into it, whisking rapidly to avoid any clumps. The mixture should thicken after a couple of minutes.
• Mix the thickened juice with the rhubarb pieces and spread evenly over the custard. Return to the fridge for at least an hour.

For the meringue:

• Heat a large saucepan half filled with water until boiling.
• Place the egg whites, sugar and salt in a bowl that is big enough to sit over the pan without the bottom of the bowl touching the water.
• Using a hand whisk beat the egg white mix rapidly, heating over the boiling water as you do. The egg whites need to get to 80 degrees C (176 degrees F). If you don’t have a food thermometer this should take about 5-8 minutes over a steady heat and be hot to touch and all the sugar dissolved.
• When the egg whites are the correct heat, remove from the heat and transfer to an electric whisk and mix on a high speed until the mix is thick, glossy and holds its shape.

• Pipe or spread the meringue on top of the rhubarb layer, if you spread it make sure you have some peaks to create crispy bits when grilled.

• To toast the meringue, pre-heat the grill as hot as possible and place the tart until browned ( this will only take a minute). Alternatively use a blow torch.
• Allow to stand for a few minutes before slicing.