Lemon Meringue Semifreddo Food

LEMON MERINGUE SEMIFREDDI

Steps:

• Make the crusts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Spread mixture evenly in a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool.
• Press 3 tablespoons graham mixture firmly into eight 6-ounce glasses. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Make the curd: Prepare an ice-water bath. Whisk eggs, 3 yolks, and 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl; discard remaining yolk, or reserve for another use. Add lemon zest and juice, and salt. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and cook, whisking occasionally, until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and whisk in butter. Strain through a sieve into a medium bowl, then set in ice-water bath, stirring often, until cold.
• Bring corn syrup, water, and remaining 3/4 cup sugar to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook, undisturbed, until syrup registers 248 degrees on a candy thermometer. Wash sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming.
• Meanwhile, whisk 4 whites with a mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, and pour hot syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form and mixture is no longer steaming, about 3 minutes. Add a third of meringue to chilled lemon curd, and whisk until smooth. Fold in remaining meringue in 2 additions.
• Transfer lemon mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a 1-inch plain round tip. Pipe on top of graham cracker crust, filling to rim. Freeze until filling firms slightly, about 1 hour. Spoon Italian meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a 1-inch round plain tip, and pipe into each glass, covering evenly and swirling into a peak.
• Hold a small handheld kitchen torch at a 90-degree angle 3 to 4 inches from surface of meringue. Move flame back and forth until meringue starts to brown. Alternatively, heat oven to 500 degrees. Place glasses on a baking sheet, and bake on top rack until meringue begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

LEMON MERINGUE PARFAIT

Steps:

• Line a 20cm round tin, preferably loose-based, with cling film, using more than one piece if necessary to cover the bottom and up the sides, and pop in the freezer.
• Roughly break up the meringues with your fingers into a bowl, aiming for nothing bigger than a golf ball.
• Put the cream and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until starting to stiffen. Stop when it looks floppy, like Greek yogurt.
• Grate over the lemon zest and sprinkle over the gin and meringue rubble. Use a large spoon or spatula to fold the cream up, over and round, until just combined.
• Stir the lemon curd so it's gloopy rather than firm; if it remains too thick, dilute with a tsp of gin. Dollop over the surface of the cream. Take your spoon and fold it in, turning the bowl as you do so - no more than a dozen folds, so the curd forms streaks. Spoon gently into the tin and freeze for at least four hours. Once firm, cover with cling film.
• About 10-20 mins before serving, remove the parfait from the freezer, invert onto a plate, peel away the cling film, and return right-side-up, at room temperature. Serve in wedges with lemon curd drizzled over and the fruit on the side.

LEMON SEMIFREDDO WITH ORANGE AND MANGO SALAD

Steps:

• Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap. Be sure to leave plenty of plastic around the edges so they can be folded over to cover the top. Put the almonds in the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer. Make it pretty because this will become the top when serving. Put it aside.
• Whip the cream with an electric beater until it forms medium peaks. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Bring a saucepan with about 1 inch of water to a boil over low heat. In a metal bowl, combine the 1 1/4 cups of sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice and zest and the pinch of salt. Whisk to combine. Put the metal bowl on the saucepan and reduce the heat under the saucepan so the water is just at a simmer. Whisk the egg mixture until it gets very light and fluffy, this will take about 4 to 5 minutes (it took me almost 20 minutes to do this). For an insurance policy, you can take the temperature of this mixture. It should be about 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from heat and beat with an electric mixer until the mixture has doubled in volume and the bottom of the bowl is cool when touched (mine was still warm when the volume doubled).
• Fold in the reserved whipped cream in increments (I did it in 4 increments). Do this gently but quickly. When it is a homogeneous mixture, pour it into the prepared loaf pan. Fold the plastic over the top and transfer to the freezer. Freeze at least 4 to 5 hours, but this can be done overnight or a couple days in advance.
• Combine the oranges, mangoes, mint and remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar in a small bowl. Let the mixture macerate for about 1 hour before serving (I did this one day in advance and it's fine).
• To serve:.
• Remove the loaf pan from freezer and open the plastic. Turn the semifreddo out onto a serving platter and remove plastic. With a hot knife, slice the semifreddo into 1-inch slices and garnish with the orange/mango salad.
• So refreshing!

LEMON MERINGUE SEMIFREDDO

Steps:

• Stir