Pushing up the daisies

This was how this year's gooseberries finished and it was well appreciated by all the tasters! It is quite sweet, so I have reduced the sugar in the cream in this version. Also I found that the meringue topping didn't go very crunchy. I wondered if I shouldn't do a pavlova style meringue next time, folding in some cornflour at the end?

Ingredients:
For the creme patissiere:

• 2 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
• 250ml milk
• vanilla (pods or essence)
• 1 tab cornflour
• 50g sugar

For the fruit filling:

• 450 g gooseberries (but you can use mixed fruits of the forest too, I put a few strawberries in to make up the weight)
• 100g sugar

For the meringue:

• 2 egg whites
• 75g sugar
• a little lemon juice if you have it

Also a sweetcrust pastry (either shop bought or home made. I think it suits a small tin, a 20-22 cm diameter)

So line the pie tin with the pastry and blind bake it for 7 minutes. Leave to cool.
Well ahead of time, make the creme: boil the milk in a small pan either with the vanilla pods or some vanilla essence. Then in a bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar to a creamy froth, add the cornflour and mix well. Add some of the boiling milk to this, stirring well and scrape it all back into the saucepan. Cook on medium low heat until the mixture is well thickened. Leave to cool completely.
Now make the fruit filling: put the fruit and sugar on low heat until the sugar melts and the fruits starts to leak juice, then increase the heat and simmer stirring frequently until the mixture resembles a runny jam. Leave to cool.
Last, make the meringue: beat the egg whites till they start to stiffen then add the sugar and lemon juice and beat well till thick and smooth. As I say, I perhaps would have folded in a heaped teas of cornflour, I rather regretted it.
Build the pie: first the creme on the base, then the fruit then the meringue piped on top (it's hard to spoon it on as I discovered).
Cook in a slow oven (120 deg C) for about 40-45 minutes.

Labels: gooseberry, recipe