I asked my five year old daughter, a chocolate fan, if we should make lemon curd or a chocolate dessert. Not surprisingly, she voted for chocolate. I asked what if I showed a photograph of lemon curd and included blueberries: “you’re making it tricky,” she said. We went with that swing and started to assemble the ingredients. She looked at the citrus reamer on the counter, asked what it was called, and then exclaimed that that’s what her grand aunt and uncle used to make their lemon drink in the morning. That was almost a year ago in Connecticut and we had never spoken about it. I had to think to remember the image: of the early morning, the dine-in kitchen, the little one waking-up early to sit at the table and chat. And watch.
Method for lemon curd:
Lemons
Eggs (whole eggs instead of just yolks can be used to make a lighter lemon curd)
Sugar
Butter
Depending on the type of lemon and preference for citrus flavor, mix the juice of one to two lemons, and the zest of a lemon, with four to five yolks and between half to three-quarter cups of sugar depending on preference for sweetness. Continuously whisk this mixture in a heavy bottom vessel over moderate to low heat until it thickens to a cream-like consistency. Adjust heat to avoid scrambling the egg yolks but to allow for the mixture to thicken. A curved-sided heavy bottom pan helps for this purpose. Add a few tablespoons of butter towards the end, whisk to a smooth, silky consistency and then chill the mixture in an ice-bath to prevent further cooking before refrigeration. Since lemon curd can spoil easily, make in small batches. To make a lemon curd tart, fill a fully baked pastry shell with the lemon curd just before serving.
The warm weather makes me look at lemons longer in the grocery store, it reminds me of Italian class discussing the word “profumo” and lemons from the Amalfi coast, it brings memories of the lemon curd tart from childhood and, the song, Lemon Tree. Then time just goes by, with or without making the tart. This time around, I made the tart because I was reminded of it during a conversation with a colleague - a member of the Sunshine Club that tries to bring sunshine to people - who talked about liking the tartness in tarts and how it can be forgotten until it’s tasted.
