Can I Get Some Lemon Curd with those Scones?

Isabella and I love to go to high tea. We were extremely excited to go in England at Fortnum & Mason, two summers ago. Our favorite treat are the scones covered in clotted cream and lemon curd.

Imagine our surprise when a lovely tea service showed up at our fancy table with no lemon curd. Our waiter (though I wish I had a fancier word for him, because he was fantastically attentive) seemed to think my need for lemon curd was strange. I figured since high tea in San Francisco always has lemon curd on offer, that this was a traditional English-type thing, too. I guess I was wrong. But, after a bit of explanation, our gentleman did bring us our preferred topping. And, it was worth the fuss. There was a much more real lemon flavor to the one he supplied than the ones we had been getting here at home.

My friend has a Meyer lemon tree that seems to be producing an inordinate amount of fruit at the moment. I seized the opportunity and decided to make homemade lemon curd. Though it was time consuming, it was well worth the effort. As I've mentioned before, I'm not much for measuring and paying close attention to precise instructions. I tried very hard last night to be as attentive as possible, and I have to say, the lemon curd turned out excellently.

With just 4 lemons, I managed to produce eight four ounce jars. The flavor is nice and tart, and there is no cream in the recipe I found, just sugar, eggs, butter and lemon. Wow, I will be making this for years to come.

And, next time we go to England, I may just bring a bottle with us, just in case they look at us funny again for requesting lemon curd for our high tea scones.

Oh, and if you're interested, here's a link to the pictures from our tea at Fortnum & Mason. Beware: lots of shots of teapots and even some of the beautiful bathrooms!

Lemon Curd

recipe from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook as seen on foodnetwork.com

makes 32 ounces

Ingredients

• 3 lemons
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 extra-large eggs
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons)
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

• Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.
• Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add thelemon juice and salt. Mix until combined.
• Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate.

Special Note:

You'll need to boil the jars before putting the final lemon curd into them, to make sure they are germ-free. Here's a how-to from a previous post, if you need help.

Boil your jars and lids while the fruit is bubbling away in the other pan . Take a large wide pan, fill with water, enough to submerge the jars and lids, and place on the heat to boil. Once the water has boiled, lower to a simmer and keep the jars in the water for five minutes. When the lemon curd is ready, remove each jar and lid one by one onto aclean cloth, right side up, to keep them as sterile as possible.

Fill your jars and  seal them:

Ladle chutney into each jar, filling up to the bottom of the neck of the jar, leaving headspace for the sealing to go well. Wipe down the top of the jar to make sure nothing is sticky on the outside, so that you can seal the jars, and they can be opened again. Put the lid on and close it as tightly as you can. Turn the jars upside down and leave to cool. This will seal the jars.

some people re-boil the filled jars, but I opt not to. if you want to, this is the time to do it!

How to Make the Chutney

On a warm San Francisco Sunday we decided it was necessary to get some of our nice late Summer fruits canned up for the coming Fall. The chutney I ended up with is sweet and tangy, with a nice hint of sage, which is perfect with roast, especially pork.

It's a very simple recipe, and the way I did it, required little more than measuring (sort of), chopping and boiling down the fruits.

Herewith, the recipe.

Hope you enjoy it.

Orange, Fig and Sage Chutney

3 to 4 pounds Oranges, sliced into 8 pieces each

1 lb granulated Sugar

1 basket Figs (about 14 figs), sliced in half

3 sprigs Sage, minced1/4 cup Lemon juiceRind of 1/2 Orange

2 cups water, or enough to cover

Make the Chutney:

Put all the ingredients into a large, heavy bottomed pan, making sure there is enough water to cover the fruit.

Set over a medium heat and bring to a boil.

Once the mixture boils, lower the heat to a simmer and stir regularly to keep it from sticking to the pan.

While you are stirring, press down on the orange pieces to release the juice.

As soon as you are satisfied with the texture of yo

ur chutney (meaning it will be chunky, good for spreading on meats!), turn off the heat making sure that your jars/lids are ready to be filled.

Boil your jars and lids while the fruit is bubbling away in the other pan

 .

Take a large wide pan, fill with water, enough to submerge the jars and lids, and place on the heat to boil.

Once the water has boiled, lower to a simmer and keep the jars in the water for five minutes.

When the chutney is ready, remove each jar and lid one by one onto a

clean cloth, right side up, to keep them as sterile as possible.

Fill your jars and  seal them:

Ladle chutney into each jar, filling up to the bottom of the neck of the jar, leaving headspace for the sealing to go well.

Wipe down the top of the jar to make sure nothing is sticky on the outside, so that you can seal the jars, and they can be opened again.

Put the lid on and close it as tightly as you can.

Turn the jars upside down and leave to cool. This will seal the jars.

some people re-boil the filled jars, but I opt not to. if you want to, this is the time to do it!

In A Jam

It has been a long time coming.

I've finally found the nerve and patience to make some jam. Actually, these may be preserves, I'm really not sure of the distinction. All I know, is that this, my second time around with making jam, was way easier than I could have imagined.

I do want to give you a bit of information about me and jam, jelly or any fruit-item not served in its original format. It was only within the last six or seven years that I became a fan of fruit mixed into anything, let alone cooked down and spread on stuff. I can't pinpoint the exact dish, but I'm pretty positive it had to do with some kind of pork loin, and then soon after that a tart of some sort. I still don't love fruit mixed into things like yogurt, baked goods or cereal, but I have come a long way.

The jam session (yes, I meant it to sound like that) didn't even begin until after 10pm on a Monday night. My man and I were out to dinner and discussing what to do next. Having just consumed a good amount of Indian food, dessert was out of the question. It being a weeknight, drinks, too, were off the list.

I asked Mr. CM if he'd be interested in making jam. He very enthusiastically said yes. We headed to the market for one more pound of apricots, lemons and more sugar. As we walked home we were both a bit worried about what we were signing up for.

I had asked two friends who make jam regularly for advice before buying the fruit. One recommended using pectin or gelatin, the other didn't. The non-pectin friend also suggested that the fruit reach a temperature of 246 degrees before removing it from the stove.

Armed with the advice of my friends, four pounds of apricots and lots of lovely canning jars, we embarked on our jam making. I am the proud owner of many Le Creuset pots and pans, so I chose to use the largest one I had on hand (last time I used a huge non-stick stockpot). Let me tell you, it cooked beautifully. All I can say, and remember, I'm a novice jammer, is use as heavy-bottomed a pot as you have.

Initially, we just cut the apricots in half, added the sugar, lemon juice and orange flower water and put it on the stove to boil. As soon as it started to thicken, Mr. CM noted that the fruit wasn't breaking down very quickly and proceeded to grab the kitchen shears and cut the cooking apricots into way smaller pieces.

It was at this point that I discovered the fresh vanilla bean in the cupboard. I love the musky flavor of vanilla and thought it would be a good counterpoint to the sugar and the tangy apricots. Turned out to be right on the money.

While the fruit boiled away, I put the huge stockpot on the other burner and filled it with water. Once it began to boil, I added all the jars, lids and rings and boiled all of it for five minutes. Last year, I had purchased some special tongs to remove the sterilized jars from the boiling water, which was very helpful this time out, too. 

As soon as the jam reached the consistency I was looking for, we scooped it into the jars, added a small piece of vanilla bean to each jar, and sealed them most of the way closed. We didn't have quite enough jars (I only  bought 8), so the remainder went into a bowl with an airtight lid, which Mr. CM took home to his little boys to enjoy.

I cant decide what flavor to make next, but I'm thinking something with rosemary added to it. I mean, if you're going to make your own jam, why not make it interesting?

Apricot Jam with Orange Flower Water and Vanilla Bean

special equipment: canning jars

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds very ripe Apricots, pitted and chopped into eighths
• 3 cups of Sugar
• 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
• 4 tbsps Orange Flower Water
• 1 Vanilla bean split open (or 1 tsp Vanilla Extract)

Method

• Place chopped apricots, sugar, lemon juice and orange flower water into a large, heavy-bottomed pan. I used a Le Creuset here, which yielded great results.
• Put pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to bubble and sugar crystals are pretty much disolved.
• Lower heat to a simmer, and continue to stir regularly for the next 40 minutes, or so.
• About ten minutes after lowering the flame, add the split vanilla bean to the pot.
• Meanwhile, boil a large pot of water, place all of the jars and lids into it and boil them for five minutes.
• Remove the jars from the water onto a clean surface.
• Once the jam has reached the consistency that you prefer, remove it from the heat and ladle into sterilized jars.
• Fill jars 3/4 of the way full, put the lids on, leaving a little give, to let the mixture cool. When it's cool, you can turn the lids to completely closed, to insure that the jam will keep well.

Note: I did not do another boiling water bath at the end. The jam will keep, unopened for three months without sealing the jars one last time in boiling water.