We have two orange trees. The navel is winding down harvest after three good months and the valencia will be ready in a month or two. Even when we have a light crop, the trees general produce WAY more than we can eat. So, I'm always looking for good orange recipes.

Fresh with the success of my first Key Lime pie, I wanted to try something with oranges and I found the PERFECT recipe at allrecipes.com called Robert E. Lee's Orange Pie. It's supposed to be an old recipe which for me is part of its charm. This delicious pie perfectly captures the taste of fresh-from-the-tree oranges and has so few ingredients that it isn't daunting at all for a pie-baking newbie such as myself. My observations follow the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 cup orange juice
• 3 egg whites
• 6 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 large orange, sliced in rounds

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (225 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, beat together egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar until mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Add flour, melted butter, grated orange rind, and orange juice. Mix thoroughly, then pour into pastry shell.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake an additional 25 minutes, until custard is set.
4. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 6 tablespoons sugar, continuing to beat until whites form stiff peaks. Spread meringue over pie, covering completely. Return to oven for 10 minutes, until meringue is golden brown. Cool before serving. Garnish with orange slices.

The custard is very runny and I was afraid it wouldn't set so I added a bit more flour and an additional egg yolk (and used the white in the merengue.)

I used a Marie Callender frozen pie crust. The baked custard was not quite 1" deep; not enough filling in my opinion. Next time I make it I'm going to follow the suggestion posted in one of the reviews on allrecipes to double it.

Being a newbie to pie baking I'm not sure if it was something I did or something about the custard, but the bottom of the crust was soggy. The custard wept a bit, which might be what caused the sogginess.