I have always had a fascintation with citrus trees. I have early memories of visiting my grandparents for the Christmas holidays and heading downstairs to see the lemon, lime and orange trees basking in the afternoon sun.I bought my first citrus tree last year from The Tasteful Garden-- the Meyer Lemon (citrus x meyeri). I was so excited about it, thinking about all of the recipes I could make with it's extra sweet, slightly tart flavors. When it began to bloom in January, I could hardly contain myself. I was a bit discouraged when I read that it could take up to a year for the fruit to ripen - thinking this must have been a misprint. Not really.
Ten months later, my tree is heavy with golden fruit. The first recipe on our list, lemon curd. The recipe comes from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat.
MEYER LEMON CURD
Juice and zest from 4 meyer lemons
4 egg yolks
4 eggs
300 grams of fine sugar
200 grams of unsalted butter
We use a double boiler set-up, so start heating your water over medium low heat. Combine eggs, yolks and sugar in a large glass bowl, and mix until sugar is dissolved. Add juice, zest and butter and heat over simmering water. Wisk until curd begins to thicken...this could take a while (20+ minutes). Since you don't want scrambled eggs, be careful with the heat. Your patience will definitely pay off.
Recipe makes approximately 4+ small mason jars of lemon curd. Using standard canning method, simmer canning lids and rings in hot water for 10 minutes, while heating clean mason jars in an oven of 275 degrees. Remove the hot jars and let them cool briefly (no reason to waste your hard work by scrambling the eggs now). Fill with lemony goodness, finish with lids and rings and let cool.
I know you think you might share with your friends, but I wouldn't count on it.
