Lemon, lemon, lemon everything
The produce in California is amazing, and every weekend at the Grand Lake Farmer's Market is a taste, smell and opportunity overload.
Even better, it seems like everyone grows something in their backyard; rooftop terrace; tiny, sunny nook. I'm working on my own nook but in the meantime I was recently the recipient of about 30 Lisbon or Eureka lemons (aka, regular lemons.)
Aside: It seems like everyone on the Internet is koo-koo for Myers Improved Lemons. I loove me some citrus but I feel like I have a dark, shameful secret: I don't like Myers! At first I thought maybe it was shipping time to Florida. Then maybe it was my sister's under-nourished tree. But immediately following the Lemonapolooza that I'm about to describe I was gifted with another six or so Meyers from a kind gentlemen in my neighborhood produce swap. I made these raspberry-topped lemon muffins and ended up throwing most of them out. Horrible, inconsistent lemon flavor. I just don't like Myers.
I briefly considered picking out my precious raspberries before tossing the muffins. I mean, can you blame me?
The first step I take when confronted with a surplus of lemons is to make Avgolemono. I can't pronounce it, but I love Elly Says Opa!'s recipe and I have no notes to add. It's perfect.
After some comfort food I was ready to venture into an exciting new arena: home canning. At first I thought I'd get the "ultimate" canner, i.e., a pressure canner because it can can "everything" including non-acidic items. Turns out this was a misconception and it's not recommended to pressure can lemon curd because it will overcook the delicate substance. But wait, it's not recommended to can lemon curd at all! Instead, the USDA suggests you freeze it. Well, if I wanted to freeze it I would just make ice cream! (more about that in another post.) And what's this? you suggest using Real LemonTM for "reliable acidity." Gross.
Luckily author and blogger Linda Ziedrich did some home chemistry testing to find out whether Real LemonTM really is more reliably acidic than the lemons you'd find at the grocery store (or a co-worker's yard, depending on your luck.) Since this information is on the Internet I decided that it had to be true and decided to move forwards with my plans: Curds Ahoy!
8 whole lemons, organic
½ grapefruit, organic
2 ½ cups white granulated sugar
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
8 whole eggs
Instructions:
Wash and zest the lemons and grapefruit with a microplane. Then juice the lemons...you'll get about 1 ½ cups (12 oz) of liquid. If for some reason you need to pause between these steps this month's Cook's Illustrated magazine reports that wrapping zested lemons in plastic wrap will keep them fresher (more moist) than storing them in plastic bags and/or leaving them naked in the fridge. Just sayin'.
Combine zest, juice and sugar in the top of a double boiler. Cook over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved in juice. Cut the butter into small chunks then add to the mixture. Small pieces of butter will melt more evenly than a whole stick. Once butter has been fully melted and combined, turn off heat under pan (move off the burner if using an electric stove.)
In a medium bowl beat eggs gently. In the next step you won't have a hand free to hold the bowl, so either use one with a silicon bottom or place a wet dishcloth or silicon trivet under the bowl to adhere it to the counter. Fill a measuring cup with a small amount of your lemon-sugar-butter mixture (½ cup measure, or similar works well.) Drizzle a small amount of the hot liquid down the side of the bowl and into the eggs, whisking the area constantly while doing so. Pour very slowly, and keep the whisk moving. This process is called tempering the eggs and is very important; otherwise your egg will cook too fast and you'll get chunks of scrambled eggs in your curd. Don't worry if you get a few strands -- the mix will be strained later.
Continue to slow pour and whisk the hot mixture into the eggs. If you are feeling nervous, you can add more than a half cup of hot mixture into the eggs to make sure they're tempered. With practice you'll get a sense of when it's ready. Turn the heat back on under the double boiler and slowly pour the tempered egg mix into the lemon-sugar-butter mixture, stirring. Cook at medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes until mixture thickens -- test it by coating a wooden spoon with the curd, then wiping a finger across the back. If you leave a crisp line of spoon behind, then it's thick enough. See this example for illustration. Remove from heat.
Place a large strainer over a clean, large bowl. Pour curd through strainer. You may need to do this in batches and use a spoon to express the liquid out of the zest mix. I saved the zest leftovers and ate it on toast. It was delicious. You can also leave it in if you want a chunky, almost marmalade-esque curd.
If you wish to water bath can the mixture, follow the standard directions for prepping your materials and process for 10 minutes.
If you can't/don't want to can the lemon curd, and eating it all in one sitting with a spoon seems unreasonable to you, you can make lemon curd marbled cheesecake. I used Anna's Ginger Thins and some butter for the crust (it's almost worth eating alone.)
