Olive Oil Lemon Curd

Lemon curd is, for me, one of those incredibly sentimental foods. That first spoonful, the first fingerfull, and I’m instantly a child again. Eating my mother’s lemon meringue pie, scooping the bright yellow custard into tart shells, spreading it on my toast.

In our house, there was often a jar of the E.D. Smith kind for every day use, but for pies, my mom made the custard from scratch.

It’s a simple recipe: lemon juice, eggs, butter, and in some cases, cornstarch to thicken. The final result is smooth and creamy, equal parts puckery lemon tartness and smooth sweetness.

I normally make mine with butter, but this recipe uses olive oil instead. Now, I have nothing against butter, let’s be clear. But olive oil does have advantages. It contains more “good” fat (meaning unsaturated) than butter, and it also is a source of things like Omegas, which we all could use more of.

Now, once you have a pot of this sunshine in your fridge, what do you do with it?

• Use it to make tarts or pies (take the leftover egg whites and whip them with some sugar for a meringue topping)
• Dollop on top of pancakes, waffles, or use as a filling for crepes
• Use as a filling for cake. Bake a cake and slice it in half lengthwise, and use the curd to make a sandwich filling. Or for cupcakes, dig a hole in the middle of the cupcake and fill it with curd before icing.
• Use it as a topping on yogurt and granola
• Top your scones or crumpets with it
• Use it as a topping/garnish on a fruit salad
• Include it as part of a strawberry shortcake filling
• make it into a chicken dish

Olive Oil Lemon Curd

(recipe courtesy of Two Extra Virgins)

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (the juice of 3 lemons)
• 3 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
• pinch of salt
• 6 egg yolks

Method:

1. Place the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan, and gently heat over medium heat, just until it’s hot.
2. Remove the pan from the heat, and whisk in sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and salt.
3. In a small bowl, whisk up the egg yolks. Add a couple tablespoons of the olive oil mixture to the yolks, and beat well. Then slowly add the egg yolk mixture back into the pan with the rest of the olive oil mixture.
4. Place the pan back on the stove on low-medium heat, and, stirring often, allow to thicken. Do not allow to boil. When thickened, the mixture should coat the back of a spoon, and leave a trail when you run your finger through it.
5. Pour the warm curd into a mason jar and place in the fridge to cool. Keep covered and refrigerated until ready to use.
6. Makes about 1 1/2 cups, and will keep for up to 1 month in the refrigerator, or 3 months in the freezer. Ha!! As if!!