They Call Me Mellow Yellow... : Lemon Curd

They Call Me Mellow Yellow... : Lemon Curd

Fourteen dollars for a jar of lemon curd? U-uh, no way, nein! Remember all those Meyer lemons I had taking over my kitchen? Well, some of them got put to good use earlier this week…they were turned into a batch of creamy, tangy lemon curd. Mmm! Have you had it before? It’s wonderful…like a jarful of liquid sunshine. Lemon curd is super easy to make and you can use it in all kinds of dishes- as a filling for a tart, to put on thumbprint cookies or spooned over homemade ice cream just to name a few. My favorite way to eat lemon curd though is to pop a dollop on a fresh blackberry scone. The tartness of the curd complements the sweetness of the berries perfectly.

To make this batch of curd, I used a recipe from (the now defunct) Gourmet Magazine; however, I made a few changes. If you’d like to see the original recipe, you can find it here: Gourmet- Lemon Curd.

Oh, I also had a little help from my lovely assistant:

Isn’t he super adorbs? With a name like Pepper, this cute guy is right at home in the kitchen. I love it when Mr. S. lets me borrow him for the day. Pepper supervised the curd making and afterwards we took a much needed nap. He’s an excellent napper, as you can see.

Lemon Curd

Ingredients

(3 Meyer Lemons for juicing and zesting)

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest (I used my handy dandy microplane)

1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 stick unsalted butter, sliced into six pieces


Instructions

- Bring about 3 inches of water to a simmer in a medium-sized pot.

- Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a large non-reactive bowl.

- Place the bowl on top of the pot of water, without the bottom of the bowl actually touching the water (essentially, you’re creating a makeshift double boiler).

- Stir in the butter a piece at a time, allowing each piece to melt and whisking frequently; until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6-8 minutes. Take care not to overcook the curd.

- Remove the bowl of curd from the heat and pour the mixture through a sieve that you’ve placed on top of a new bowl. Gently work the curd through the sieve using a wooden spoon.

- Cover the lemon curd with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap directly onto the surface (this prevents a skin from forming on the top). Keep in fridge until completely chilled (about one hour).