Gooseberry Meringue Pie Food

GOOSEBERRY PIE I

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place a baking sheet on a lower oven rack.
• Stem and rinse berries.
• Crush 1/2 cup berries in the bottom of a saucepan. Combine sugar, tapioca, and salt; mix with crushed berries. Cook and stir until mixture boils. Cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat, and add in remaining whole berries.
• Pour fruit filling into pastry. Adjust top crust; cut slits to allow steam to escape. Brush top crust with milk and sugar.
• Bake in preheated oven on baking sheet until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 35 minutes.

BROWN SUGAR MERINGUES WITH GOOSEBERRY COMPOTE & CREAM

Steps:

• Line a large baking sheet with parchment and heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. For the meringues, put the egg whites and lemon juice in a large clean bowl (metal or ceramic is best) and whisk with hand beaters until the whites stand in stiff peaks, but are not at all dry or fluffy around the edges.
• Add 1 tbsp of the sugar and whisk again until the whites return to stiff. Repeat until all the sugar has been used and the meringue is thick and glossy. Sprinkle in the hazelnuts; don't stir.
• Spoon 8 blobs of the meringue onto the lined baking sheet, aiming for something roughly egg- or rugby ball-shaped. As you push the meringue off the spoon, the hazelnut will ripple its way through the mixture. Make a small dip in the top of each meringue, ready to hold the cream and fruit later. Bake for 1¼ hrs or until pale golden and crisp. Leave to cool in the oven with the door ajar.
• For the compote, gently heat everything together in a pan until the sugar dissolves, then bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and cook for 3 mins or until the fruit collapses but is still recognisable. Cool. Assemble meringues just before eating: whip the cream and use to top the meringues, then add spoonfuls of compote. Any leftover compote will keep in the fridge for a week or two.

GOOSEBERRY PIE

Steps:

• On a piece of parchment generously dusted with flour, roll out one disk of dough to a 12-inch round. With a dry pastry brush, sweep off excess flour; fit dough into a 9-inch glass pie plate, pressing it into the edges. Trim dough to a 1/2-inch overhang all around. Roll out remaining disk of dough in the same manner; transfer (on parchment) to a baking sheet. Chill pie shell and dough until firm, about 30 minutes.
• In a large bowl, toss together the gooseberries, granulated sugar, tapioca, cinnamon, lemon juice, and salt. Spoon into pie shell, mounding slightly in the center. Dot with butter. Lightly brush rim of pie shell with water. Center the remaining rolled dough on top of the fruit; gently press over the berries. Gently press the top and bottom pieces of dough together to seal. Using kitchen scissors, trim top piece of dough to a 1-inch overhang all around. Tuck dough under, and crimp edge as desired.
• Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter, make cuts in the top crust to allow steam to escape (do not remove rounds of dough). In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and cream; brush egg wash over entire surface of pie, being careful not to let it pool. Sprinkle pie generously with sanding sugar. Freeze or refrigerate pie until firm, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F, with the rack in the lower third.
• Place pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until the crust begins to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Continue baking, rotating sheet halfway through, until crust is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling and have thickened, 40 to 50 minutes more. Transfer the pie to a wire rack to cool completely. The pie is best eaten the same day it is baked, but it can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.
• Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add the butter and shortening, and process just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 seconds. (To mix by hand, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl; use a pastry blender to cut in the butter and shortening.)
• With the machine running, pour ice water through the feed tube in a steady stream until the dough just holds together without being too wet or sticky; do not process more than 30 seconds. Test the dough by squeezing a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add a bit more water.
• Turn out the dough onto a work surface. Divide in half. Place each half on a sheet of plastic wrap; flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. Dough can be frozen, wrapped in plastic, up to 3 weeks; thaw in refrigerator.