The Pie

Making pie dough in my very old Cuisinart food processor:
Top row: the dough ingredients spin around, then come together in a ball.
Bottom row: the venerable booklet from the manufacturer, with recipe,
my pie weights, and the pie shell just baked.

Yesterday, as promised, I made a pie for Pi Day. I decided to keep track of what I did in case I want to do it again. 

First, I made the pie shell, as illustrated above, in my shallow 10-inch pie plate. (The filling recipe would also be ok for a deeper 9-inch pie.)

Then I made the filling and completed the pie. I tried using the microwave to make the filling, and succeeded! Using the microwave requires one's undivided attention for around 10 minutes, but is otherwise much easier and quicker than using a saucepan and worrying that the filling will scorch on the bottom.

Pi-Day Pie

Lemon Pie Filling

Ingredients
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
grated zest of 2 organic lemons
3/4 cup sugar
9 tablespoons butter (1 stick + 1 tablespoon)
3 eggs
3 egg yolks

Process

1. Whisk the eggs and yolks until thick and homogeneous.
2. In a 4 cup or larger heat-proof measuring cup or similar container place the lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar. Cut butter into small pieces and add to container. Microwave on 70% power for 2 minutes, repeating 2 or 3 times, stirring after each time, until the butter begins to melt. Stir mixture off heat until butter is entirely melted. 
3. Whisk a small amount of the lemon mixture into the eggs to warm them. Gradually combine the two mixtures, whisking them together in the heat-proof container. Return container to the microwave oven and again heat on 70% power 2 minutes. Whisk mixture again. Repeat the 2 minutes of heating 2 or 3 times until the mixture becomes thick, whisking after each time. Watch the heating process very carefully so that the mixture does not boil over!

To finish the pie: Pour the lemon curd into a baked pie shell, smooth the top of the filling, and bake for 5 minutes in a 350º oven. Allow the pie to cool for a few hours so that you can cut it into firm slices.