Luscious Lemon Curd

Recently the parents of a friend of my daughter were talking of their initiation to lemon curd, or rather leemon courd. Their anglophone brother in-law had brought a pot of the stuff to their holiday home in Normandy. They loved it. Suddenly I had a craving for some lemon curd, a conserve that is not so easily available in Paris, certainly not in our immediate neighbourhood.

It should also be said that I'm a lemon curd snob. I can only really be bothered with the exorbitantly expensive stuff from delicatessen style shops. As we weren't going back to the UK for a while I decided to try and make some. In a few clicks on the Internet I had Nigel Slater's lemon curd recipe up on my computer. 

Time to buy some lemons.

The most labour intensive part of making lemon curd is squeezing the lemons. To lighten the burden I recommend 1 x amenable child to squeeze the lemons for you. Apparently is is GRRREAT, just like squeezing the juice out of brains. Who knew?

In the interests of preserving my child's fingers I grated the zest. The smell is so good!


Add the sugar.

Put the lemon zest and juice, the sugar and the butter into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (bain-marie), making sure that the bottom of the basin doesn't touch the water. Stir with a whisk from time to time until the butter has melted. 

Lightly beat three eggs and one egg yolk with a fork, then add to the mixture.



Stir the eggs into the lemon mixture. Let the curd cook, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes, until it is thick and custard-like. It should feel heavy on the whisk.

This mixture makes two small jam jars. So far we've sampled it on buttered toast, in plain yoghurt, a table spoon of it in an apple crumble and of course straight from the jar. All of these options are delicious.


Nigel Slater's lemon curd recipe

Makes 2 small jam jars
zest and juice of 4 unwaxed lemons
200g sugar
100g butter
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk 

Put the lemon zest and juice, the sugar and the butter into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (bain-marie), making sure that the bottom of the basin doesn't touch the water. Stir with a whisk from time to time until the butter has melted. 

Mix the eggs and egg yolk lightly with a fork, then stir into the lemon mixture. Let the curd cook, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes, until it is thick and custard-like. It should feel heavy on the whisk. 

Remove from the heat and stir occasionally as it cools. Pour into spotlessly clean jars and seal. It will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.