Bottling sunshine

[shapeofthings]

This week the weather turned, with the first breaths of winter stirring. There was snow on the mountain on Monday morning and the days are now noticably cooler and shorter. Today I finally accepted that the all-too-brief summer was gone and turned my attention to preparing for the cold, grey months ahead.

A couple of week's ago I'd been fortunate enough to be given a pile of lemons. This afternoon I turned them into lemon curd, preserving the sunshine yellow tang as an indulgent treat to chase away the winter blues.

Simple Lemon Curd

1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup castor sugar (use raw castor, or add a little brown sugar to give a more caramel flavour)
90 g butter
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
Vanilla

Bring a saucepan of water to simmer, resting a heat-proof bowl on top (being sure to leave space between the bowl and the water). Chop butter and place in bowl. Pour in sugar, lemon juice, beaten eggs and a dash of vanilla. Whisk together as butter melts. Taking care to keep the temperature low and steady, gently stir mix continuously until it begins to thicken (about 10 minutes). If the mix gets too hot, the eggs will scramble. If you don't stir enough the outside layer will set and over-cook. Once the mix begins to thicken turn off heat and keep stirring for another 5 minutes or so, until the curd takes on a creamy, smooth consistency. Remove curd from heat and pour into sterilised containers. The mix will thicken further as it cools. Store in a cool, dark place (or in the fridge) for a grey, rainy day.