February 24, 2011

lemon curdy goodness

We've had sort of a rough week around here with everyone dropping like flies with the stomach flu. Yesterday was really the only day that no one was sick (we're back on the sick wagon again today though with Briton down and out as of 6 am this morning) so I jumped at the chance of a quiet morning to for a) clean everything that the sickies touched and b) make some lemon curd in the newly cleaned kitchen.
The recipe I used this year is from Jam it, Pickle it Cure it which was given to me by my lovely friend Kim last year. Now before I go on with the lemon curd I'd just like to point out that buying me this book was very brave of Kim. She has, for more than 15 years now, been subjected to my culinary and crafting projects. Some successful, some not. And to be fair, she's been my co- conspirator in many of them (I think she has better memories than I of the Buche de Noel we made for French class in high school) and I've been her guinea pig often as well (she makes killer muffins!) But still, buying me a book that includes a recipe for making your own bacon, well, that's pretty daring. Because at some point I'm going to try it and make her eat some:) Even if she does live on the opposite side of the country (that's what Fed Ex is for!)
But back to the jam. I've tried a few recipes over the years, my favorite is one you make in the microwave (yes, really!) that my grandmother gave me ages ago. But alas, I have no microwave. And since the only things I really miss using a microwave for are warming up coffee (bad habit anyway) and making Lemon Curd and poppadoms, well, I don't think we'll be getting one anytime soon. So it was the stove top method for me. This recipe has you blend everything but the butter well before putting it on the stove which I liked a lot, I think it helped to keep the egg from curdling somehow. And it was also pretty fast once the lemons were squeezed. But the end result was a little too tart. Not bad tart, just not quite the sweetness I wanted. Maybe the lemons were extra sour, who knows. I think I may attempt a second batch when I've eaten up this one and adjust the sugar so I'll wait and post a recipe when I'm really happy with it.
And now I have to go and peel two dozen stickers off of the coffee table. Because when you are four and a half and you've been sick but are feeling better, well, naturally you are going to get into a little mischief, you have to prove that you're well, right?

What about you? What projects have you been up to this week? Anything fun?