little miss cocoa

Lemon curd! Is delicious!

I did not know this until I had fresh lemon curd for the first time last Christmas Eve, on a warm scone. Unlike store-bought versions, which are too starchy, fresh lemon curd is kept semi-solid thanks to some gently cooked (very, very, very gently, like newborn baby gently) eggs. I made some for my boyfriend’s sister-in-law’s birthday. It almost didn’t make it out the door. There was a lot of licking of spoons.

So here is my lemon curd recipe:

1/2 cup freshly squeezed organic lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
3/4 stick (6 tblsp) unsalted butter, cut into chunks

In a saucepan, whisk together the lemon juice, zest, sugar, and eggs. Turn on the heat on the stove to a little higher than low, and continue whisking with the pan on the heat while stirring in the butter (I like this part, when the butter swirls around to its eventual demise, like a wicked witch). At some point, like magic, the curd will firm up. S had just walked into the kitchen and I was just saying to him ‘this is taking forever’ when it firmed up and became more gel-like as if giving me as much of the finger as a gel-like substance can! Unfortunately, because my kitchen is not particularly well-stocked and my pan was quite thin, some of the egg also began to curdle. I whisked madly, but to no avail. Which takes me to the final step.

With a spatula, ease the curd into a fine-mesh strainer, and help the curd through the mesh with the back of a spoon. The strainer will catch any bits of curdled egg and lemon zest, so that the final product is deliciously smooth.

Pour into a jar and serve! Or, if you’re keeping it longer, stick in the refrigerator. Fresh lemon curd will last about a week refrigerated.

Consensus? Well, S and I thought it was great stuff. We carried the warm jar of curd to his sister-in-law’s apartment and, like bandits, knocked furtively on the door, left it on the doormat, and ran. Some days later, her verdict (we left a card, so she figured out pretty quick who’d come and gone) came in: most delicious on a scone.

When I was in Paris a few years back (aw, who doesn’t like to say that?) a friend tossed up some salad with the best dressing I’d ever tasted.

“Guillaume! What’s in this?”

“It is so easy…’

Here is where Guillaume usually begins discussing a very difficult recipe involving ingredients I have never heard of, many complicated steps, and probably cream. But this time he meant it:

“…It is just olive oil, and balsamic vinegar, and some mustard.”

It is true! So here’s my friend’s magical French recipe for delicious salad dressing:

Equal parts balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and a squirt or two of really good quality, course ground or dijon mustard (insert Grey Poupon joke here). Whip madly until the oil doesn’t separate from the vinegar, and pour over greens.