LEMON MERINGUE PIE

To my dear friend Chula, here it is! Sorry I had to post it in my blog but I figured this would make you visit my blog more often and give me your invaluable opinion about it.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
2 lemons, juiced and zested
2 tablespoons butter
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
4 egg whites
6 tablespoons white sugar


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter.


3. Temper the egg yolks in a small bowl by gradually whisking in about 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.

4. Make Meringue: In a large glass bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.



* Your pastry recipe is better than mine, so just make that and bake blind for about 10 minutes before pouring in your egg yolk mixture.


*Make sure you seal the edges at the crust with meringue, otherwise the meringue will "run" to the center as it is baking.


* I still think coffee does not go well with any anything citrus-flavored so you may want to serve this with tea en vez.

BEEF WHATEVER

This is a recipe I got from a magazine. I had guests tonight and served this for dinner. I improvised from the original recipe, according to how I wanted (and imagined) it to taste.

On a scale of 1 (as the lowest) to 10 (highest), I would rate this a 7.


Beef Whatever

4 pieces (about 2 kilos) beef shanks
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, cubed
2 stalks celery, sliced into thick chunks
1 cup very dry red wine
1/2 cup tomato paste
4 to 5 cups water
2 beef broth cubes
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons honey

Arrange beef shanks in a tray. Season with paprika, rosemary, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Leave to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Heat oil in a skillet. Fry shanks until brown. Transfer to a deep pan.

Heat oil in a skillet, saute onions, carrots and celery. Add red wine and allow to boil. Add tomato paste and stir well to disperse. Add to the shank. Pour in water, boil, then add beef cubes, honey and bay leaf.

Boil shank until almost fork tender. Discard bay leaf before serving.

Serve hot with rice or mashed potatoes.