Lemon Pavlova Pie

For the pastry:
Grease and dust a pie tin with flour and set aside. Preheat oven to 180ºC (355ºF).

Combine self-raising flour, sugar and butter in a food processor and blitz until mixture resembles a crumble. Add egg and water to the food processor and blitz until pastry forms a ball.

Remove pastry from food processor, press into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

For the filling:
Meanwhile, separate eggs. Set egg whites in the fridge and place yolks into a medium saucepan. Add lemon zest and juice of 3 lemons, cornflour, sugar and water. Whisk until smooth. Set aside.

Retrieve pastry from fridge. Lightly flour benchtop, and using a rolling pin (or in my case, a wine bottle), roll pastry out thin, around 2mm to 3mm thick.

Carefully drape pastry over pie tin, press it into the base and using a sharp knife, cut off any excess pastry overhanging the tin. Randomly pierce the pastry in the base of the tin with a fork 10-12 times. Cover with baking paper, fill pie tin with pie weights, uncooked rice or dried beans, and place in the oven to bake for 15 minutes.

Remove crust from the oven, remove pie weights and set aside. Drop oven temperature down to 170ºC (340ºF).

Place medium saucepan with filling mixture over a medium heat and whisk until thickened. Set aside to cool for a few minutes, then pour into pie base and return to the oven for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Reduce oven temperature (or pre-heat if baking meringue on another day) to 120ºC (250ºF). Line a baking tray with baking paper and sift a generous layer of cornflour atop it.

For the pavlova:
Place egg whites into a large mixing bowl and using electric beaters, beat on high speed. Gradually add sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and cornflour. Continue to beat on high until mixture is smooth, glossy and holds semi-stiff peaks.

Scrape meringue mixture onto prepared baking tray, allow it to natural form a circular shape by pouring the mixture into a central position and letting it spread outwards. Place meringue in the oven to bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove meringue from oven and allow to cool slightly. Gently crack open pavlova and separate the crunchy crust from the gooey middle.

Scrape the gooey middle onto the top of your lemon tart, and arrange the pieces of crust on top.