Shortcrust pastry

1. Place the flour, salt, butter and egg into a bowl and cut into your flour until the butter is slightly larger than peas.
2. Add in a little of the ice water and stir to combine, continuing 1 tablespoon at a time until a dough forms and no dry portions remain in the base of the bowl.
3. Press firmly into a disc, wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F.
5. Lightly flour your surface and both sides of your dough and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.
6. Flipping the dough and adding a small sprinkle of flour, where necessary.
   Roll the dough around your rolling pin and place into your pie dish.
7. Pressing firmly into the dish and trimming the edges.
8. Return the dough to the fridge for 20 minutes to chill.
9. Remove, pierce with a fork all over.
10. Lay greaseproof paper therein and fill with baking beans or rice right up to the edges of your crust.
11. Bake for 20 minutes until the edges are golden, remove the baking beans and continue to bake until golden all over, approximately 10 further minutes.
12. Remove from the oven and brush 2 tablespoons egg whites over the entire pastry, making sure it’s spread as thinly as possible.
13. Set the pastry aside to cool completely.
14. Lower the oven temperature to 120C / 250F.

Lemon curd filling

1. Place the sugar and lemon zest into the saucepan.
2. Rub together to coat the zest thoroughly with sugar and draw out the oils in the peel.
3. Add the corn starch and lemon juice into a small saucepan on medium heat. Whisk until thickened and it has gone from looking cloudy to more transparent.
4. Remove from the heat and add in the egg yolks, whisking swiftly to combine.
5. Add in the butter, whisking until melted and glossy looking.
6. Spoon into the pastry and spread out evenly.
7. Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the lemon curd looks glossy on top.
8. Remove and allow to cool completely.

Meringue topping

1. Meanwhile, for the Swiss Meringue, place a small saucepan on low heat with enough water not to touch the base of a heatproof bowl.
2. Place the egg whites and sugar into a heatproof bowl and put over the simmering water.
3. Beat on low until your egg whites reach 73C/165F (if you don’t have a thermometer, the best test is to put a clean finger into the egg whites and you feel no sugar granules between your finger or can’t keep your finger in the mixture for more than 3 seconds).
4. Remove the egg whites from the heat and beat on medium speed with a whisk attachment until stiff and glossy, approximately 8 minutes.
5. Stop beating as soon as it’s glossy and slowly spoon the meringue evenly onto your lemon curd (we want to avoid air bubbles when we cut into our pie, that’s why we do this slowly).
6. Smooth out and shape with an offset spatula all the way to the edges of your piw.
7. Using a blowtorch, lightly burn the meringue to your preference or place under the grill/broiler to caramelize the exterior.
8. Slice and serve.
9. Dig in!