Traditional, English Lemon Curd: Zesty and Easy

June 23, 2009 6:08 pm

Traditional, English Lemon Curd: Zesty and Easy

As the old saying goes, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!" This is nice, but why not make a lemon curd instead? I am not a professional pastry chef as I do not have the patience to measure all ingredients to perfectly. However, I did acquire a recipe for lemon curd from a co-worker, and I silently thank her every time that I make it. The recipe is easy enough for your typical line cook (me), the home cook, or even a twelve year old.

Speaking of twelve year-olds, this past weekend I taught my step daughter, Marie, how to make this sweet n' tart recipe. Marie is known to wake up early during the weekend to prepare a full on Eggs Benedict breakfast topped with Hollandaise and all. Similar to the Hollandaise sauce, a Zagaglione is tasty, delicious, and requires (physical) effort to make. The beautiful thing about lemon curd is that it mimics the luscious, custard-like texture of a "sabayon"—but its preparation doesn't require the step of whisking until your arm falls off.

There use of the lemon curd is limitless. It can be used for a lemon tart (I like mini lemon tarts), poured over ice cream, or in our case, we folded in a little whipped cream, cut up some pound cake, and made a lemon and cherry trifle of sorts.

The recipe is as follows:

6 lemons, juiced and zested
6 whole eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 stick butter, at room temperature

1. In a double boiler, whisk together lemon juice, zest, eggs and sugar over low heat. Continue mixing until mixture becomes nice and thick.

2. Strain lemon curd through a fine mesh. In small amounts, begin adding butter to lemon curd.

3. Refrigerate until cool. Lemon curd should last in refrigerator for approximately 10 days.

—Hailee Moore