Gluten-Free Lemon Meringue Pie

This week, I’m very happy  to welcome back my good friend, Emma, who shares with us a delicious gluten-free version of  the classic Lemon Meringue Pie. So can’t wait to dig into this one!
Enjoy,
Dom

LEMON MERINGUE PIE
By Emma Caperelli Loerky

Since Labor Day weekend is almost here, I thought it would be a good time to share one of my family’s favorite gluten-free recipes – Lemon Meringue Pie. Whether you are making burgers, ribs, chicken, or even fish on the grill, the cool tartness of the lemon custard combined with the sweet, fluffy meringue and buttery crust makes this pie the perfect ending to your meal, especially on a late summer day.

This is something that I make throughout the year, not only because my family loves it so much, but also because lemons are always in season. I’m not sure how I’ve made this recipe so many times yet have managed to neglect using Meyer lemons (because how awesome would that be?!). However, I never think twice about making it with just plain old lemons simply because it is always delicious, and neither should you.

Gluten-Free Pie Crust
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups King Arthur Flour Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbs cold butter
1 large egg
2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, xanthan gum, and salt.

Cut the cold butter into pats, then work the pats into the flour mixture until it’s crumbly, with some larger, pea-sized chunks of butter remaining.

Whisk the egg and vinegar or lemon juice together until very foamy. Mix into the dry ingredients. Stir until the mixture holds together, adding 1 to 3 additional tablespoons of cold water if necessary.

Shape into a ball and chill for an hour, or up to overnight.

Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before rolling.

Roll the dough out between two pieces of plastic wrap and invert into a pie pan.

Wrap loosely with plastic wrap and place the unbaked pie crust in the refrigerator for at least an hour before baking.

Cut a piece of parchment paper big enough to fit on the bottom of the pie crust. Allow the parchment to extend a little past the sides of the crust (for easy removal). Place pie weights (or uncooked dry beans) on top of the parchment paper, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the parchment and the weights, and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the crust is a light golden brown. Remove crust from oven and let cool completely.

Lemon Custard
From the magazine, Delight Gluten-Free

Ingredients:
Zest of 4 lemons
3/4 cup lemon juice, strained
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
8 egg yolks

Directions:
Combine lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until liquid.

Strain the lemon juice/sugar mixture to eliminate the zest, and beat one-quarter of the boiling liquid into the egg yolks.

Over low heat, return the remaining lemon juice liquid to a boil.

Whisk the egg yolk mixture into the boiling liquid and continue whisking until it thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. It may come to a slight simmer, but do not allow the custard to boil.

Pour the lemon into a bowl, press plastic wrap against the surface to prevent a skin from forming and chill for about an hour, or until completely cool.

Pour the chilled lemon custard into the crust.

Meringue
From the magazine, Delight Gluten-Free

Ingredients:
3/4 cup egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups sugar

Directions:
Combine egg whites, salt, and sugar in a medium sized bowl and place over simmering water.

Heat, beating with a whisk, until egg whites are hot (it should feel like hot tap water on your finger) and all of the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat to a mixer. Whisk on medium speed until cold and stiff.

Pipe meringue on top of lemon custard. Use a pastry torch to caramelize or put under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until lightly golden brown. Note: I do not have a pastry torch so I just used my oven which works fine. Just be sure to keep a close eye on the pie, as it will burn easily. Two minutes was just enough time in my oven.

Grilled Bananas and Peaches with Caramel Sauce

Grilling fruit is a fun and delicious way to prepare dessert in the summertime. It’s also a nice way to impress your guests without much effort! Bananas and peaches are my usual go-to grilling fruits, and my friend Jay also does grilled pineapple. Preparation is simple and grilling time only takes a few minutes.

First thing you want to do is clean your grill of all charred food remnants, so that you’re cooking on a clean surface. I suggest using a gas grill instead of a charcoal grill. I’ve had fruit grilled on both, and the charcoal grills tend to leave a smokey taste to the fruit.

Preparing the fruit is very simple. First you want to slice the fruit.
• For the bananas, you’ll want to slice the banana in half, length-wise. You can then cut the two pieces in half, to get 4 equal parts. Do not remove the banana from the peel.
• For peaches, slice in half and remove pit.
• For pineapple, remove the skin, then cut down to 1″ thick slices (you can serve the slices as whole or half).

Next, you’ll want to season the fruit. I like to sprinkle some brown sugar and cinnamon on the cut side of the fruit. You can also brush with melted butter or honey to sweeten it up a bit, but I prefer the brown sugar and cinnamon on their own. You’ll want to do this about 5 minutes before grilling, so that the seasoning settles into the fruit.

Now you’re ready for grilling. Preheat the grill and be sure to use some non-stick spray on the grates. Place the fruit cut-side down for about 4 minutes, until the fruit starts to get slightly charred. If doing pineapple, you can cook each side for 4 minutes. Remove the fruit, plate it grilled side up, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Magic!

If you REALLY want to wow and impress your guests, add a drizzle of home made caramel sauce to this already elegant dish. Yes, I said HOME-MADE CARAMEL SAUCE. Sounds intricate and impressive, but home made caramel sauce is incredibly easy to make. It also makes for a good parlor trick when you’re hosting. “Hey, you know what would go really good with this? Home made caramel sauce! Give me a few minutes, and I’ll be right back…” I’m telling you, your guests will be talking about this for years to come. The ingredients are very simple: sugar, heavy whipping cream and butter. And the best way to remember the measurements is by the 1:1:1 ratio. In other words, you’re using equal parts sugar, heavy whipping cream and butter, depending on how much you need to make.

Heat up the sugar in a pot over medium heat, until it dissolves, stirring occasionally (you can add a tablespoon of water to it to help it along). Be very careful while doing this. Hot sugar will not only burn you, it will also stick to your skin. Once it dissolves, it turns into a beautiful amber-colored syrup. Remove from the heat, carefully add the cream and whisk. The cream will start to boil at contact. Whisk until combined, add butter and continue to whisk. Once combined, let cool for a few minutes, the serve. The caramel will keep for about a month when covered tight and placed in the refrigerator.

DON’T FORGET TO ADD A LITTLE CAPTAIN TO YOUR CARAMEL!
Cooking with spirits is always a fun and easy way to add flavor and a little kick to your dish. Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum is the perfect compliment to home made caramel sauce. For the adult crowd, whisk in a splash or two (to your liking) just as the caramel starts to cool. If you’re looking to cut back on the alcohol kick, heat up the spiced rum in a pan to cook off the alcohol. Not only will the addition of the spiced rum accentuate the taste of the grilled fruit, it also makes for the perfect topping for ice cream, pound cake, cheese cake, cinnamon buns, bread pudding…you name it!

Green Tomatoes: The Fall and Rise of a Damaged Vine

They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But what do you do when life gives you a hurricane that rips almost all of your premature green tomatoes off of its vine? Last week’s massive storm that rolled through our area did just this. To say that I was heartbroken is an understatement. Thankfully our next door neighbor, along with being incredibly kind and patient with our kids, has the greenest thumb around! Almost immediately after telling her about my tomato tragedy, she had searched out this great website that offer suggestions for green tomatoes (click here for the site). Thank you, Fran, for taking the time to help out with suggestions!

I read through a few websites and found quite a few intriguing ideas. Of course, fried green tomatoes were on the top of every list that I read. But I was on a mission to try something a bit more unique and challenging. Listed below are the three ideas that I went with, in order that I made them. Two were inspired from recipes that I found on other websites, and the third was improvised. Thankfully I was able to put to use almost all of the prematurely picked tomatoes. The remaining greens are gonna get fried!

GREEN TOMATO SPICE CAKE
Courtesy of allrecipes.com
This recipe incorporates puréed green tomatoes into a standard spice cake recipe. Similar to a zucchini bread, the green tomatoes are added more for texture and nutrients, rather than taste. It’s a bit more moist that a traditional zucchini bread, and you do notice the occasional tomato seed, but the spice really shines through on this. Serve as is, dust with powdered sugar, or top with a cream cheese icing.

Ingredients
4 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Place chopped tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt. Let stand 10 minutes.
Place in a colander, rinse with cold water and drain. Purée in a food processor.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch baking pan.
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until creamy.
Sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add raisins and nuts to dry mixture; Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Dough will be very stiff. Mix well.
Add puréed tomatoes and mix well. Pour into the prepared 9 x 13 inch pan.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

GREEN TOMATO FAJITAS
This recipe was totally improvised. I started off by sautéing some garlic and onions in olive oil until onion was translucent. I added a chopped green pepper, stirred it until tender, then added the tomatoes, again cooking on medium until tender. I then added some chopped chicken, salt and pepper and some dried barbecue spice. Served it on warm tortilla shells with shredded cheddar cheese. The end results were fantastic! The onions, garlic and peppers help liven up the bland taste of the green tomatoes, and the oil and salt helped soften them up to a nice tender texture. Gonna get this in my summer rotation often!

GARLIC PICKLED GREEN TOMATOES
Here’s an old world recipe that’ll put a large amount of the tomatoes to good use. Very good use! The jars that I made are still settling – you’ll need about two weeks to let them fully marinate. Look for a follow up post when I crack open my first jar. Let’s hope for tangy-liscious results!

Ingredients
5 pounds small, firm green tomatoes
3 1/2 cups cider vinegar
3 1/2 cups water
One fourth cup canning salt
6 or 7 garlic cloves
Pickling spices (a combination of spices, such as mustard seeds, peppercorns, dill, coriander seeds, cloves, and red pepper flakes)
6 or 7 bay leaves

Directions
Wash and core tomatoes, cut into halves or quarters. Combine vinegar, water and salt; bring to a boil. Pack tomatoes into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Add 1 garlic clove, 1 heaping teaspoon of Pickling spices, and 1 bay leaf to each jar. Pour hot liquid over tomatoes, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust caps. Process 15 minutes in boiling water bath. Yield: about 6 or 7 pints.

Cooking with Limoncello

courtesy of crostiniandchianti.blogspot.com

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp lemon thyme, you could use any green herb that isn’t real strong flavored

1 tbs olive oil

1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/3 cup Limoncello

1 tsp butter

In a saute pan heat oil. While oil is heating mix the garlic, lemon zest and thyme together. When oil is hot but not shimmering add the garlic mix. Let it heat up until it becomes aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the shrimp. Toss the shrimp to coat with garlic mixture. Cook until shrimp is cooked 3 to 4 minutes depending on size. Remove shrimp from pan. Wipe out any burned garlic. Add Limoncello to pan and let it reduce to about 1/2 the original amount. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Drizzle this over the shrimp. The sauce will be very sweet but when it is added to the shrimp the flavors will balance out.

Next up is a Limoncello Mascarpone Berry Trifle for dessert. I started this recipe by combining mascarpone and confectioners sugar in to a fluffy cream that can be served as a dip along with fruits (this is a traditional Italian treat). I added limoncello to the mix as well. The limoncello was reduced to burn off the alcohol (you can use the limoncello straight up if you wish). I then took the cream, classic yellow cake and berries and built them up as layers to make a trifle. If you want to just serve the mascarpone cream (with or without the limoncello) along with fruit for dipping, I suggest you cut the following measurements in half, as this recipe will give you a good amount of mascarpone cream. Also, the addition of the cool whip, or fresh whipped cream, gives it more of a fluffy texture and cuts back on the limoncello taste. Try it first without the cool whip, then add as needed or desired.

Limoncello Mascarpone Berry Trifle

1 17oz. container Mascarpone Cheese

1/2 cup confectioners sugar, sifted

1/2 cup limoncello

Up to 1/2 cup cool whip (or fresh whipped cream)

1 package frozen strawberries with natural syrup, thawed

1 box classic yellow cake mix, baked into two 9 inch pans

fresh berries (your choice of raspberries, strawberries or blueberries)

Bake cake in two 9 inch pans according to box directions, let completely cool. Mix together the mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar and limoncello. Taste to see if you like the texture as is. If you want it to be more light and fluffy, fold in up to 1/2 cup cool whip or fresh whipped cream. In a trifle bowl, place one of the baked cakes. Add mascarpone mixture, then add the thawed strawberries and syrup. Add the second cake, topped with more mascarpone mixture, then top with fresh berries. You can also add fresh lemon zest as well.