INGREDIENTS FOR A 23cm (9 inch) PIE:
For the crust:
190g all-purpose/plain flour
40g icing sugar
100g dairy-free butter
30g soy milk
3g white vinegar
For the filling:
190g caster sugar (or other granulated sugar)
5g agar agar powder
20g cornstarch
190g dairy-free cream
320g almond milk
15g lemon zest, chopped
yellow food colouring
150g lemon juice
For the meringue topping:
110g aquafaba, cold (reduced from 160g)
2 tsp lemon juice, strained (10g)
130g caster sugar
STEPS
- For the crust, blend the flour, the sugar and the butter to obtain a sort of breadcrumbs, combine the mixture with the vinegar and the soy milk, and knead briefly to obtain a dough.
- Wrap the dough in cling film, place it in the fridge and chill it for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
- Once the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 150°C (no fan).
- Roll down the dough into a 30cm (12 inches) disk of roughly 5mm (¼ inch) thickness, and use the disk to line a 23cm (9 inch) non-stick pie tin.
- Scrunch a piece of greaseproof paper under water and squeeze it to remove any excess moisture.
- Line the pie tin with the wet paper, add plenty of rock salt to it and use it as a weight for the blind baking process. This will prevent the dough from rising and moving.
- Bake the base in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, rotating it every 15 minutes to allow for even browning. Let it cool down completely, and remove salt.
- For the filling, mix a third of the sugar with the agar agar, and set aside.
- Mix the remaining sugar with the starch and the cream, and set aside.
- Place the milk in a saucepan over a medium heat, pour in sugar/agar mix and whisk to properly combine the ingredients.
- Add the zest, bring to a boil, and simmer gently for 3 min to hydrate the agar.
- Add food colouring to taste and stir again; we added the colouring in 6 times using the tip of a toothpick.
- Now, lower the heat to the minimum and pour in the cream/starch mixture. Bring the filling back to a boil stirring constantly, and as soon as it starts boiling again, turn off heat. Add in lemon juice and stir once more to complete the filling.
- Pour the filling in the precooked shell through a fine sieve to remove the zest, and let the pie set at room temperature for 30 minutes before placing it in the fridge for 3 hours to fully set.
- Whip the aquafaba and the lemon juice using a stand mixer at full power for 8 minutes, and then, gradually incorporate the sugar 1 tbsp at the time, making sure to wait 40 seconds between each addition.
- Once the sugar is finished, whip for another 4 minutes at full power before placing the meringue topping in a pastry bag and piping it onto the pie or onto the slices before serving.
- Torch the topping if desired, making sure to be careful and gentle because aquafaba does not coagulate, so it won’t react as egg whites would. A gentle torching and a little colour goes a long way to add a nice colour, and subtle caramel flavour to the pie.