Papaya Pie - Olympic Food Challenge : Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda are today's stop in the gruelling marathon that is the Olympic food challenge... They have never won a medal in the Olympics, but are they down-hearted?  Like heck they aren't, sending 5 athletes to compete in 2 sports - athletics and swimming, so why not cheer your heart out for the plucky guys and check up to see just how well they are doing here...

Also, after last night, I'm feeling paranoid that I've put the right flag on the post.  It is a pretty flag though, isn't it? 

It's like sunshine on a plate... gooey, sweet and delicious, with colours that suggest a tropical paradise (Antigua is a tropical island isn't it?)  And yes, before you all shout at me or string me up from the nearest Mary Berry, I'm really bad at making pastry - even rolling out ready made stuff ends in tears, swearing and vows never to set foot in the kitchen again, so I used a pre-made pie base... Oh the humanity.  Anyway, if you are feeling more inclined to do this from scratch, I assume some sort of sweet short crust pastry will work well.

Today's new experience - Papaya. Apart from the crystallised stuff you get in bags, I've never had this before, and I have to say, it was pretty tasty, although there was some debate about how you can tell if it's ripe.  Mrs Soup, who has had more experience in this field than I have, got one that was spot on, although when they are ripe, the skin seems to go a rather unappealing shade of yellowy green...

 

Ingredients
1 9inch Pre-cooked pie base
2 Papaya
40g Plain Flour
20g Soft Brown Sugar
20g Granulated White Sugar
3 Eggs - whites only
1 Lime - Juice and Zest
Pinch of Cinnamon
Pinch of Grated Nutmeg
1 Kiwifruit to garnish

Method
1. Cut the papaya in half and scoop out the seeds, then remove the flesh of the fruit and put in a bowl

2.  Mash the papaya roughly, then add the flour, sugar, lime, cinnamon and nutmeg, stirring them in

3.  In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they become stiff and stand to peaks

4.  Fold the egg whites into the papaya

5.  Pour the filling into the pie base

6.  Cook in a pre-heated over at 160ºc for 45 minutes or until starting to brown on the top

7.  Put on a wire rack to cool

8.  Garnish with slices of kiwifruit and serve chilled.  Enjoy!