My friends have started giving wonderful food treats as gifts - we get chutney, preserved lemons, raspberry vinegar this year which I am very excited to use and even a Christmas pudding - and so last Xmas I thought I would try this out. Lemon curd seemed to go down well so this year I repeated it. This preserve is so easy to make, tastes so fresh and zingy that you feel it is doing you good on hot brown toast and it is certainly an antidote to the seasonal richness. Perhaps I shouldn't give the recipe here; it might reduce its appeal as a gift! Mind you, you can only make one jar plus a bit with the basic ingredients, so making several does take some commitment - honestly.
Lemon Curd
4oz butter
8oz sugar - I use fairtrade golden castor
2 eggs beaten
3 lemons - if they are very large you might only need 2 and a bit but you must have 3 ready
Have 1 clean 1lb jam jar keeping warm in a slow oven plus a cold bowl for any overflow which you will use first.
Lemon Curd
4oz butter
8oz sugar - I use fairtrade golden castor
2 eggs beaten
3 lemons - if they are very large you might only need 2 and a bit but you must have 3 ready
Have 1 clean 1lb jam jar keeping warm in a slow oven plus a cold bowl for any overflow which you will use first.
- Melt butter in a small pan and then add the sugar, stir and let it melt over a very gentle heat.
- Then put this pan over a larger one with hot water in it, so that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the smaller pan.
- Add the beaten eggs and the squeezed lemon juice. The only thing which can go wrong is that you get little bits of stringy egg white so I strain the eggs into the pan through a sieve.
- Now let it cook over a gentle heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, for a few minutes. Taste it and make sure it is really lemony. You can now add more juice or even a tiny bit more sugar.
- When the mixture coats the back of the spoon it is ready to take off the heat.
- Pour into your hot jar and let it cool before you add the lid. Keep in the fridge.
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