After over 10 years working in big law firms, making the move to the in-house legal department of a large multinational company has been quite the shock to the system. But now that it’s been about 6 weeks since I started in my new job, I feel like I am slowly starting to find my rhythm. And as busy as my days are (in part because I still have so many questions about how things work and who to speak to), my time outside the office has dramatically changed. Gone are long evenings (and nights … and early mornings … and weekends … and bank holidays … you get the picture) chained to my desk and I am finding myself with more energy than I have had in years. Case in point, last Sunday I naturally woke up at 6:45am!
There is no elegant way of moving from talking about my new job to today’s recipe for Fresh Turmeric and Lemon Curd, aside from the fact that all this extra time I now have also means I am spending more time in the kitchen, so I will just jump straight in.
If you are not familiar with curds (I certainly wasn’t until I lived in the UK), they are custards made from eggs, sugar and butter as well as something tart. Typically you will find curds made from lemons and other citrus fruits but I have also seen raspberry curds and a few years ago made a delicious curd using tamarind.
Today’s version has fresh turmeric. It was only a few years ago that I first came across fresh turmeric but I was immediately converted. Where dried and powdered turmeric can be bitter or acrid, fresh turmeric is almost tropical in flavour and reminds me of fruits like passion fruit or sea buckthorn. And I will freely admit to sometimes buying those tiny and exorbitantly priced turmeric shots you can get in juice bars – that is how much I love its flavour. Fresh turmeric is also wonderful for making Turmeric tonic (and, spoiler alert: mixed with some sparkling water I happily substitute it for tonic water in g&ts). Here it gives traditional lemon curd this beautiful tropical flavour twist as well as this deeply yellow, bordering on orange hue.
Turmeric and Lemon Curd
Notes: Making this turmeric and lemon curd is no more difficult than making lemon curd, you simply add a generous portion of freshly grated turmeric to your curd base. And what I love so much about making curds is that they are super easy to make and are such a delicious thing to have on hand – be it as an additional spread option for your breakfast table, to enjoy in large dollops on some thick Greek yoghurt, layered into ice cream, as a filling for tart shells, you name it. And this one is even more delicious than traditional lemon curd.
Makes one small jar
Ingredients
2 eggs, lightly whisked
100g sugar
Juice and zest of two lemons
3 pinky sized pieces of turmeric, finely grated
50g butter
Directions
Suspend a mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water. Add all ingredients to the bowl and whisk all ingredients until the butter has melted.
Once the butter has melted, continue stirring the curd for ca. 8-10 minutes or until the curd has thickened to a custard-like consistency. Strain into a clean jar. Store in the fridge.
REAL SIMPLE FOOD 