When life dishes up lemons make lemonade

~ better still lemon & gin curd!

Life is full of delicious things. And one of them is lemon curd. I love the zingyness of Sicilian lemons. A good lemon curd on crumpets or thick home cut white toast is one of my all time tea time favourites. A non-gin-loving friend of mine, who is a much better cook than I am, gave me this recipe. Naturally, I adapted it to include gin and here it is. Its super easy. Try it dolloped on homemade pavlova with whipped cream and toasted almond flakes.

This recipe uses just the yolks but other recipes use the whole egg. The choice is yours.

Makes 1 very yummy jar of curd.

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks (save the whites for cocktails!)

1 cup caster sugar

2 unwaxed lemons, preferably Sicilian if you can get them

100g butter

1 tsp cornflour

2 or 3 tbsp of your favourite gin

Tip: If you don’t have unwaxed lemons, simply rub the lemon all over with a drop of washing up liquid under a hot running tap to dissolve the wax.

Method:

Step 1: first, sterilize your jar in a dishwasher.

Step 2: peel the rind, avoiding the pith, and juice the lemons. Don’t be too finicky separating the juice of the lemon from the pulp. A few bits in your curd will make it look all the more homemade.

Step 3: mix the cornflour with the lemon juice.

Step 4: beat the egg yolks in a bowl with a fork.

Step 5: add all the ingredients into a heatproof mixing bowl. Put the mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure it is a snug fit or you will get a facial while you make the curd. If you have a double boiler all the better. And you’re ready to go!

Step 6: now stir the mixture constantly over a low heat for the next 20 mins until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.

Step 7: this is the tricky bit. Turn the heat up too high and you will get lemony scrambled eggs. So keep it low. And be patient!

Step 8: strain the mixture to sieve out the peeled zest and pour into a warm sterilised jar. Lid and label.

If you can bear it, give your jar of lemon & gin curd to a gin-loving friend.

Enjoy!