Lemon Curd

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Today’s shift at work involved running around after 350 screaming children who were in for a party for some kid’s club. They came in to see a special screening of Chicken Little. They were pepped up on coke and popcorn and chocolate, and most of them were in chicken outfits. Getting them into the cinema was difficult enough, but getting them out and getting the cinema clean was a nightmare. We had to clean up all their feathers, food scraps, spilled drinks, and other disgusting liquids. It was insane, and I was buggered. I came home around 7:30pm, to find all members of my family out.

So do you know what I ate for dinner? I’m ashamed to admit it (Mark practically disowned me when I told him), but I was too tired to think of anything, and I had… a Lean Cuisine and a corona beer. Shh!

The point of that story is not to incite pity, but simply to illustrate that, sometimes, even the most die-hard wannabe domestic goddesses need a bit of time out.

My time out lasted for about 2 hours, and then I got straight back into it.

I started by making part of the dessert for tomorrow’s lunch (check back tomorrow to find out what it is), and then made some lemon curd.

256. Lemon Curd (Basics etc.)

Lemon curd is similar to the Seville orange curd I made to fill a Seville Orange Curd Tart a while back. It’s not too difficult.

You put lemon zest, juice, butter, sugar, whole eggs and egg yolks in a heavy based pan, and stir over low heat until thickened. (Much like custard).

The recipe calls for 8 eggs and 4 lemons…


detritus

In the recipe, Nigella writes that the curd has a possibility of curdling and splitting (again, much like custard). This freaked me out so much (remember my custard problem?) that I was extremely timorous, and took it off the heat as soon as it started to thicken.


Gloopy

I left the kitchen, and went back to MSN chatting with DG. Upon telling her about my curd, she told me to stop being such a wuss and put it back on the heat until it was proper curd. I was still unsure, so I went back to the kitchen, and re-heated a half at a time. This way, if it curdled, I’d still have half the mixture to work with, and it wouldn’t all be ruined.

Anyway, she was right. It thickened easily and didn’t curdle at all.


half thick half thin

Then I finished cooking the remaining curd. Easy peasy.


Big bowl of sunny lemon

FYI, lemon curd tastes great on water crackers.

I’m going to let it cool down before putting them into dishwasher-cleaned jars.