Preparation Notes: 45min, plus cooling and chilling
Cooking Notes: about 35min
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Yields:
10
Prep Time:
45 mins
Cook Time:
35 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 20 mins
Ingredients
For the pie
320g ready made shortcrust pastry sheet
500g (1lb 2oz) gooseberries, topped and tailed if woody
225g (8oz) caster sugar
50ml (2 fl oz) lemon juice - about 1-2 lemons
40g (1 ½oz) cornflour
4 medium egg yolks
For the meringue
4 medium egg whites
200g (7oz) caster sugar
1tsp. cornflour
Directions
Step 1
Use pastry to line a 23cm (9in) fluted, loose-bottom pie tin (rolling a little thinner if needed), leaving excess pastry hanging over the edge. Prick base all over with a fork and chill for 30min.
Step 2
Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Trim excess pastry (discard). Line pastry in tin with a piece of baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Bake for 15min on the middle shelf until pastry is set. Carefully remove from oven and take out parchment and beans. Return tin to oven and bake for a further 10min until pastry is golden and cooked through.
Step 3
Meanwhile, put gooseberries into a large pan with sugar and 2tbsp water. Simmer for 5min, stirring occasionally, until pulpy. In a small bowl, mix lemon juice and cornflour until smooth. Add to pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick like wallpaper paste (it will need to boil). Add egg yolks and cook for 1min more, stirring.
Step 4
Pour filling into cooked pastry case and smooth the surface. Cool completely.
Step 5
Reheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Gradually add sugar 1tbsp at a time, whisking back up to stiff peaks after each addition – the meringue should be thick and glossy. Whisk in cornflour. Pile meringue on to the gooseberry filling and bake for 10-12min until golden and meringue is set. Cool for at least 10min (up to 30min) before serving.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
