"lemon curd" news and stories

My dad's cousin used to keep chickens in her backyard and each year, she'd use some of her egg-y bounty to whip up jars of lemon curd to send out to family for the holidays. I looked forward to this jar arriving in the mail because it was essentially a little jar of lemon pie filling and I would sneak it away and eat tiny bites of it with a spoon until one of my parents caught me and took it away.

This year, I found myself with an abundance of Meyer lemons and so decided to combine their juice and zest with some good farmers market eggs and butter to make a batch of lemon curd to add to my edible gift stash. I adapted a recipe from The Martha Stewart Cookbook and got to work. It's sort of a fussy recipe, because all the lemons need to be zested and juiced and a dozen eggs needed to be divided into whites and yolks. However, once that's done, the rest is a breeze and it worth it for the giddy reaction you'll get from people when you tell them that you've got homemade lemon curd for them to spread on their morning toast. The recipe is after the jump.

Ah, where to begin with my long-lasting love affair with the crêpe, the delicately thin French pancake? I think it started with a photo my parents showed me of them eating crêpes with my older sister in Paris. Perhaps, it was the toppings that attracted me. Since I have such an insatiable sweet tooth, it didn't take long for me to get hooked.

I recently crafted some crêpes with just a few different berries, raspberry coulis, and lemon curd. It was the first time I used raspberry coulis in a crêpe. It was perfect. Raspberry coulis is a fruit sauce made from puréed raspberries. It's often used on desserts. The sweetness and tartness added just the right amount of flavor to the crepe without making it overwhelmingly sweet. Although, I have to admit that it takes a lot of sugar to overpower my palate.

And, the addition of lemon curd was superb! It not only enhanced the creaminess, but it also created an exquisite looking crêpe. As if I hadn't already added enough sweetness to the crêpe, I sifted sugar over it for the finale. The recipe I used to make the lemon curd and other dishes that call for lemon curd can be found after the jump.

Click on the gallery below to see the beautiful colorful process I was fortunate to experience in order to decorate and flavor the crêpe.

• Cook up a batch of lemon curd to serve as counterpoint to all the summer berries that are in the markets now. Lynne Sampson has recipes for the curd itself, as well as an assortment of ways to incorporate it into desserts (Lemon-Ginger Ice Cream Sandwiches, Strawberry Lemon Fool and Lemon Semifreddo With Mixed Berries).
  
• This week, the Market Basket is full of popsicle molds and frozen treats.
• Danielle Centoni defends the cheesy, gooey casserole and offers up a recipe for a Mexican layered dish that uses corn tortillas and lots of cheese.
  
• Summer calls for quick cooking foods, preferably prepared outdoors. Try this Hot Flank Steak Salad With Chinese Black Bean Dressing to stay cool this season.
  

• Two different ways to make pea soup.
• Mmmm...cinnamon rolls.
• O Ya was named the best new restaurant in the country by Frank Bruni of The New York Times.
• Behind the scenes of the Mayflower Brewing Company.
• Restaurant reviews: Whatta Wing and Sixty2 on Wharf.
• Are you a Starbucks Democrat?
• This week's recipes: Lemon Curd, Chocolate, Pistachio, and Pecan Muffins, and Tartiflette.

You could be like Santos of Scent of Green Bananas, and well, go bananas.

Santos, who blogs regularly from Guam, is on a little holiday, and when she is in LA, she blogs from her LA-based blog, Meet Me at the Corner of Third and Fairfax. Apparently, Santos fell into a lemony thicket, and has crates and crates of lemons. The products of her first crate of lemons are a luscious lemon curd which would be a serious overdose if spread on the Basil-Lemon Peel Sugar-crusted French Lemon Pound Cake. Overdose of lemons? Who am I kidding. Bring it on!