I've had a lot of time lately.
Like, a lot of time.
I go on the internet and I look at things people are doing, and things they are making and then I become obsessed. This obsession has led me to hobbify my days. I have been knitting, cooking, internets, walking, taking pictures, making our garden, and monitoring gas prices in the area (it is serious."They're gouging, $3.53 is out of control, you can get it for $3.35 in Black Mountain, but then you have to consider how much gas it'll take to get over to Black Mountain. How many miles per gallon do you get? Remember on the way there is really up hill, so you might be better off taking the interstate..." AHHHHH!)
Today, after we went with Bama to run errands, I made Lemon Curd. This was my first time, and so far, so good. I got the recipe from the good people over at Thursday Night Smackdown.
What you see here is...
- Some fancy "European Style" butter (it was on clearance, I am not a snob)
- Eggs from our cousins over at Hickory Nut Gap Farm (I am a snob when it comes to my eggs)
- Three lemons all squeezed and cussed at, by yours truly. They are not Meyer Lemons because I have no idea what those are anyway
- Heavy Whipping Cream from the regal sounding Food Lion.
- Salt from the sea
- Sugar - that was moved halfway across the country
- You also see lemon juice squirted all over the counters, a little piece of lettuce, the can where we keep our bacon grease, a butter safe, sunflower seeds and raisins. These were not used in the curd.
We used 6 eggs yolks and 2 whole eggs for this recipe. Six egg yolks means there are six lonesome egg whites hanging out on the counter while I am curding it up. Remember that.
I am not going to give you the recipe. You can go over to the same place I got it, Thursday Night Smackdown, and look there. I am just going to describe my pictures so you can imagine you were in the kitchen with me while I was cussing and stirring and pouring.
Anyway, now I am over at the stove, with everything but the whipping cream in this sauce pan. Will you just look at that gorgeous thermometer Schyler gave me for Valentine's day? Its useful. I read in some other place that the curd should be heated to 170 degrees, so there's a helpful hint you won't find in the original recipe. Coating the back of a spoon feels vague to me, like, is THAT coated enough? Or should I cook longer? I can measure 170 degrees.
I could really use a hand in the kitchen, you know? I mean with all this stirring and talking, and pouring and cussing I forgot to take pictures. After I got all that stuff cooked up in the pot, I whisked in the heavy cream. If only I had a photo, I wouldn't have to describe the beautiful color to you. It is a creamy, buttery, lemony yellow (thats mostly because it contains cream, butter, and lemons). The recipe made 5 full 4 oz. jars. Which I processed in a hot water bath for 25 minutes, probably too long, but I am not sure what my altitude is around these parts.
Look how lovely they are, glistening lids and all.
OH! Back to those six egg whites. What are you supposed to do with those? I made a double batch of meringue cookies.
You must understand, this house lacks some very strange basic ingredients that I don't realize until we get home and we are like 7 miles from the Food Lion, and gas is $3.53 in Fairview, but $3.35 if I go to Black Mountain, and I don't have to work until Friday, and I average 26 miles per gallon in town, but on the way home is very hilly, and... basically it is never worth it to go to town for one thing. So, no cream of tartar. We can substitute vinegar? RIGHT ON! What? No white vinegar? We have apple cider, balsamic, red wine, or rice vinegar. Apple cider it is.
I really miss my KitchenAid stand mixer today. Look at those stiff white peaks.
I plopped big ol' dollops on a cookie sheet, lined with aluminum foil, the shiny side up, just like my momma taught me. I hate that these look all haphazard and squirrelly.
So I took a toothpick and swirled them perfectly.
Stand proud you white peaks of deliciousness! Stand Proud!
Schyler says, "These look like uniformly shaped turds."
I found a good recipe that uses vinegar over at Simply Recipes. I left out the nuts.
Still no phone, still on Facebook or email, waiting for your correpondence.
Love,
Katy
