Lime & Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie



Always Competitive - I had to put my pie beside the picture on the magazine cover just to see how it compared!



I'm so excited to share this pie with you! It tastes so amazing and just screams summer what with the beautiful fresh blackberries and the tart burst of lime that offsets the blackberries so nicely. This is like a traditional lemon meringue pie gone rogue! If you love summer desserts, you must try this one before the summer's beautiful bounty has disappeared from the market.

Blackberry compote placed in crust waiting to be covered over by creamy lime curd.

 This pie is a bit involved, but you can cut down on the effort by purchasing the pie crust if you want. I am a bit of a baking snob, so I wouldn't buy the crust, but don't worry, I won't judge if you decide to. :) There are four parts to this pie: the pastry crust, the lime curd, the blackberry compote and the italian meringue topping. In addition to being quite involved, you don't want to make this pie too long before you serve it - it is best served within three hours of making! But don't let that stop you - this pie is well worth the effort. It looks so impressive and artistic once it is put together and it tastes amazing!



The blackberry compote has been covered by delicious, creamy lime curd.



 So lets get started with the recipe. For the pastry I'm going to direct you to Anna Olson's pie crust recipe which I posted in my Cherry Pie blog post. This is my absolute favorite pie crust recipe and it is super easy to whip up in the food processor. Once you've whipped up your pastry - chill for one hour in the fridge, then roll out and fit into your pie dish and then chill for another half an hour. Next blind bake the crust. Here are the blind baking instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Prick chilled pie crust in pie dish all over with a fork. Line crust with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven; lift out parchment and weights. Reduce oven temperature to 350F. Return to oven and bake, using fork to prick any bubbles that have formed and pressing down on them with back of fork, until crust is light golden brown, 20-25 minutes longer. Let crust cool completely. I made mine the night before and it worked out beautifully.

Artfully swirled italian meringue prior to browning to give it some colour.

The next component to make is the lime curd. This curd is so delicious you're just going to want to eat it by itself, but do try to save some because it does go really nicely with the blackberry compote!!

Lime Curd

Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine - August 2011 Issue

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh lime juice - juicing a bunch of limes can be a pain, but do use fresh lime juice because taste really matters here and bottled lime juice will not cut it.
• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks (save the whites - you can use them for the meringue)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin
• 3/4 cup chilled heavy cream

Method:

1. Set a strainer over a medium bowl and set aside. Stir the lime juice, eggs, egg yolks, and sugar together in another medium bowl. Set bowl over a large saucepan of gently simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water). Whisk until the mixture has thickened, the whisk will leave a path when lifted from curd, and thermometer will register 175F (approximately 15 minutes).
2. Add butter to curd, one tbsp at a time, whisking to blend between additions. Strain curd into prepared bowl. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of curd. Chill until cold, about 2 hours. This part can be done up to two days ahead. Refrigerate curd.
3. Sprinkle gelatin over 2 tbsp water in a small bowl; let stand until gelatin is soft, about 10 minutes. Using an electric mixer, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add gelatin mixture; continue beating cream until just before firm peaks form. Fold whipped cream into lime curd. Cover and chill until ready to use.



Fresh blackberries nestled around creamy, light italian merinuge.



 Next up, make the blackberry compote. When I make this recipe again, I will likely reduce the amount of liquid in the compote - I found it to be quite runny in the bottom of the pie. The other option is to reduce the compote quite a lot until very syrupy  prior to folding in the blackberries. Either way, the taste is great, it just didn't set up as nicely as I had hoped.

Blackberry Compote

Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine - August 2011 Issue

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fruity red wine, such as Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 cups blackberries (about 1 1/2 pints)

Method:

1. Bring red wine, sugar, and 1/2 cup water to a simmer in a medium saucepan over high heat; reduce heat to medium and simmer until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 20-25 minutes (mine took considerably longer). Let cool.
2. Add three cups berries; fold gently to coat.
3. Spread compote in an even layer over baked crust. Spoon lime curd over berries, smooth top and chill for one hour.

Beautiful toastey meringue topping.

 Are you tired yet? You're in the home stretch - you just need to make the meringue and assemble the pie now. You can do it!! Its worth it. :)

Italian Meringue

Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine, August 2011 Issue

Ingredients:

• 3 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp corn syrup
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup blackberries (1/2 a pint)

Method:

1. If toasting the meringue in the oven, preheat the oven to 450F (I toasted mine in the oven to get a beautiful light brown colour on the meringue, then removed from the meringue and torched areas of the meringue to give it additional colour and depth to the toastiness!!).
2. Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat whites in mixer until soft peaks form. Set aside. Stir sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar has dissolved. Attach a candy thermometer to side of pan. Increase heat to medium-high and boil without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush, until thermometer registers 238F, 6-8 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
3. Meanwhile, beat whites in mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in salt.
4. Slowly pour hot sugar syrup down side of bowl into whites and beat until meringue is firm and glossy. Continue beating until cool, about 4 minutes. Spoon meringue over curd, leaving a 1" plain border, and sculpt/ swirl decoratively. Tuck 1 cup berries in and around meringue.
5. Bake pie until meringue is toasted in spots, 3-5 minutes. Watch it carefully because it can burn very quickly. Chill for 30 minutes before serving.

 Whew! What a lot of work! I brought it to a summer bbq and it was very well received. I hope you enjoy it too. Do you have some exciting plans for the last weekend of summer? Hubby & I are heading kayaking tomorrow and keeping our fingers crossed for another beautiful day of sunshine.

 Happy Baking my Friends!