Wine Pairing: Lemon Meringue Pie and Cool Foxy Lady
It was the middle of the summer when I started working at Unionville, and we were just releasing the 2013 Cool Foxy Lady. Made from 100% late-harvest Vidal grapes, Cool Foxy Lady, with a velvety sweetness and subtle hints of citrus, is our unique twist on the classic ice wine. In the tasting room, one of our team members always asks our guests to envision eating a slice of Lemon Meringue pie while sipping Cool Foxy Lady. The tartness of the pie contrasts the sweetness of the wine - refreshing your taste buds.
My father and I love lemon meringue pie! I bake this dessert for holiday parties, when I want to offer a light refreshing alternative at the dessert table. This year, I will be baking this pie and serving it alongside Cool Foxy Lady. It is a perfect pairing! Do you offer a unique dessert at your holiday parties? Tell us below!!
Ingredients
Yield 1 9in pie Total Time: ~3 hrs. Includes some time for cooling
- 1 graham cracker pie crust
Lemon filling
- 4 egg yolks - save the whites for the meringue
- 3 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/4 cups of fine sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 egg whites
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 tbsp fine sugar
Directions
Lemon Filling
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine 1 cup of sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk together.
- Add water, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract
- Cook over medium-high heat until the mixture, also known as curd, comes to a boil. Stir constantly!
- Stir in butter.
- Add the egg yolks to a separate bowl and slowly whisk in the sugar mixture. Once you have added about half of the sugar mixture to the egg yolks, return the contents of the bowl to the sauce pan. Reduce heat to low
- Cook the curd on low until it is nice and thick - depending on your stove top and preferences this can take up to 15 minutes. Make sure your stove top is set to low. If you need to, add a heat diffuser to reduce heat.
- Once the mixture is thick enough, pour it into the pie shell.
- Cover the entire filling with meringue - taking care to seal the edges. See below for meringue instructions.
- Place in on a rack in the middle of the oven for 10-15 minutes or until pie is golden brown.
- Allow the pie to cool for 2 hours, or until you can comfortably touch the underside of the pie pan.
For the Meringue
- Using either a hand held mixer or a stand mixer, begin to beat your egg whites on low. Gradually increase the speed and beat on high for 2 minutes.
- Add the cream of tartar and vanilla extract
- Beat for another minute
- Gradually add the sugar and beat for until you have stiff peaks. Check every few minutes - you do not want to over beat!
To test your peaks, turn your whisk upside down. The meringue should cling to the whisk and hold their peak without collapsing.
Once the pie is cool, serve alongside a glass of Cool Foxy Lady. Tell us about your favorite dessert and wine pairings below.
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Also in Unionville Grapevine
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We picked from 5am that day until a little past midnight, almost 19 hours of harvesting. The pick was only interrupted for bathroom breaks, pizza, and eventually some beers to keep morale high. I think the high morale beer was Miller High Life, although the details are fuzzy and it would only have been selected ironically. It was the most tenacious day I can recall in the field here. We picked nearly 10 tons from three different vineyards, finishing with the Pheasant Hill Chardonnay. We saran wrapped the bins during transport and weighing back at the winery as Ophelia's first raindrops splashed down just after midnight.
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