Tangerine Lemon Curd

One of the blogs I visit with some regularity is Joy the Baker. About a week ago, she put up a recipe for Tangerine Lemon Curd. I am cray-cray about lemon curd, and have always wanted to try to make it, but was put off by the whole double boiler thing. Joy's recipe is super simple--throw all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook gently so as to not scramble the eggs. I liked the idea of rubbing the zest into the sugar, and I knew Sarah would have a good time doing that with her mortar & pestle.

We had a busy day yesterday (more about that tomorrow, including how a planetarium show can make me homesick), and I knew I would want to do something quick and easy for dinner. Around these parts, that means breakfast for dinner. We stopped to pick up some sausage links, eggs, and canned biscuits.

Digression: yes, I know canned biscuits can't hold a candle to homemade. I know homemade biscuits are super easy, cheaper, and don't have unpronounceable ingredients. But I also know that sometimes I don't want to dirty even one more bowl, much less take 5 minutes to measure a few ingredients and then roll out dough and cut it out. Sue me.

But I did want to try something new, and the lemon curd recipe seemed fairly straightforward. We didn't have any tangerines, so I used all lemon. I zested the lemons and put Sarah to work with the mortar & pestle. We threw everything in the saucepan and let it go, whisking pretty frequently over medium/low heat. We strained it afterward, just to make sure it would be nice and smooth, and put it on the table with the rest of dinner.

As with most new things around here, it was a qualified success. Sarah & I really liked it, Jeff & Lauren had no interest in it. That said, I see much, much more lemon curd in our futures, to say nothing of tangerine curd at Christmas and lime curd this summer. Viva la curd!