I always look forward to blood orange season. These little jewels brighten the starkness of the mid-winter snow and ice. After trudging through the snow, I arrive home with my precious cargo. I take off my snow boots, my snow covered coat and hat and hang them above the heater to dry. I set the oranges in a hanging basket in the window and I begin to search around the kitchen for inspiration. While searching through cupboards, pantry and spice racks, I see hanging above the basket a bunch of dried lavender, plucked from my garden on a warm summer day. After flipping through over 20 curd recipes, I came up with my recipe for Blood Orange and Lavender Curd. This lovely curd is perfect for cakes, pastries, pies, or slathered on a fresh baked piece of rye bread.
What You'll Need:
zest of 2 blood oranges
1 cup fresh blood orange juice (about 4 oranges should do the trick)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cups butter, cut into pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons dried lavender flowers
6 egg yolks
- Place all the ingredients in the top of a double boiler (or do what I do and use a metal bowl on top of a sauce pot filled with about 2" of water).
- Cook over high heat and whisk until the butter is melted and the ingredients are combined. Once the butter has melted, cook, whisking constantly, for another 10 minutes until thickened.
- To test if the curd is done, coat the back of a wooden spoon with the curd and draw a line with your finger. If the curd falls back in on the line, it is not ready. However, if the line stays clear, the curd is ready.
- Pour the curd over a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. This curd can be canned and kept for 1 year, or refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.
Yield: About 3 cups
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