Sunday, February 13, 2011

Blood Orange Curd

Having to stay at home this weekend due to the Hussybands little snip yesterday, I find myself with the time and inclination to play with a few recipes.

Orange and lemons the bell of St Clemens......
In my box from Riverford this week, I added a bag of Blood Oranges. The blood orange is a kind of orange with a deep scarlet hue on the inside. The skin pigment on the outside is also darker. They usually mature mid-season and are deeply juicy and sweet flavoured. These kinds of oranges are typically smaller than an average orange.

Some people believe that blood oranges are a result of cross-breeding between pomegranates and oranges, but this is a total and utter falsehood. Blood oranges are simply oranges that at some point underwent a genetic mutation (like Godzilla) and turned into the noble, sexy fruits that they are today.

Rather than use an existing recipe, I decided to play with my Nan's Lemon Curd Recipe, replacing most of the lemon juice with blood orange juice, I say most, as blood orange juice is sweeter than lemon I wanted to leave some in, so I have used the juice of 1 lime and 1 lemon together with the blood orange juice to make up a total of 2/3 of a cup of liquid.

It is also important to have your eggs at room temperature before incorporating them into the sugar/butter/lemon mix so that the eggs do not curdle. There is nothing worse than curdled curd!

Ingredients
180g butter
3/4C caster sugar
2/3C juice (I used 1 lemon, 1 lime and the rest blood orange), strained
3 eggs
  • Place the butter, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolved.
  • Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs. Stir over low heat continuously for 8-10 mins or until thickened. It will also thicken up further upon chilling so dont worry if it seems a bit water-y!
  • Place in sterilized jars and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Makes 2 cups

I had expected it to come out much redder, like the juice, and the photo doesn't quite to it justice, as it has a lovely pink hue to it. Taste-wise, it is sweet and tart and crying out to be eaten straight away.

You can do so much with this - I love it slathered on sourdough toast, but you could also serve it as a desert canapés in small (or large) sweet pastry tart shells. I am going to use this to fill a sponge with next week, and will top it with a blood orange and sugar drizzle and serve it to @CarolineMead as her non-birthday cake....I hope she likes it! Meanwhile, I have to use restraint and not eat it by the spoonful!

Enjoy!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm looking forward to trying the cake already :)

Cathy said...

I have to try making this!

AussieFoodie said...

Kanga_Rue - I might let you.....

Cathy - super easy and very delicious!

Brian said...

Yummmm that looks great! I can taste it already and you make it look so easy. I love your writing style.

AussieFoodie said...

Thanks Brian! Will make you a batch next time you slog to Sarf East London....hold when you FIRST slog to SE London...get over here man!

Fiona Wadsworth said...

Hi Aussie Foodie, just lovely playing with recipes! Will try this one when they come in season over here.

Sarah, Maison Cupcake said...

I'm a crazy about curd... not made it myself at home yet but I did a cookery class last year where we did it in the microwave to great success.

AussieFoodie said...

Hey Fi - you will be the first to buy the oranges...but will you cook it or will you make my Mum? Kisses!

Ola Sarah - curds are awesome I have to agree. Did you blog the microwave version? Would love to try it that way!

Izzi said...

I love blood oranges - this sounds absolutely gorgeous.

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