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Well, I’ve juiced, pickled and marmaladed but we still have a surplus of those juicy sharp naval oranges.  So I’ve made citrus curd.  It’s just like good old fashioned lemon curd but it’s got a mixture of lemons and naval oranges.  I was pleasantly surprised at just how good it came out so I’ll share…

Homemade Citrus Curd

As usual this is a sightly ‘cheaty’ recipe in that I couldn’t be bothered with balancing bowls on top of pots of ‘barely simmering’ water so I bunged it in a saucepan.  No problem so long as you keep stirring all should be well.

This is enough to make exactly one small jar (+20% gratis) from a not very ecologically sound instant coffee manufacturer.  I wouldn’t make lots as it should really be kept in the fridge and will only last 3-4 months.  To be honest I’d be surprised if ours lasts a fortnight but if I had made lots we’d just be getting very large in the tummy department!

For the citrus curd you’ll need:

• 1 lemon
• 2 naval oranges
• 200g caster sugar
• 110g unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks

Place the zest and juice of a your citrus fruit in your pan with the sugar and butter.  Heat slowly and stir till the butter is melted and the sugar dissolves.

Now beat the eggs and yolks together in a separate bowl with a fork.  Pour this eggy mess through a sieve into your saucepan of loveliness.

This is important, you must stir constantly and heat gently.  If you think it is starting to curdle you’ll need to cool the mixture quickly by placing the pan in a bowl of cold water and stir like crazy.  I don’t want to scare you because I’ve never seen the mix start to curdle anyway but just in case I don’t think citrus scrambled egg is the desired effect!

Anyway, stir constantly over the gentle heat till the curd thickens and lightly coats the back of your wooden spoon.  It will thicken a lot more on cooling so don’t expect it to be really thick just yet.  Poor into warmed sterilized jars and store in the refrigerator.

I love citrus curd as it is on lovely fresh bread but I love it even more in a pie.   So since I had two egg whites left over and hate waste I proceeded to make us a citrus curd pie.  Luckily for me I also had some pastry left in the freezer from my last quiche so it was quicker than usual to put the pie together.  I always make more pastry than I need so we can have the odd pie, quiche or tart without too much effort on my part.

Homemade Citrus Curd Pie

I’m not going to tell you how to make pastry – it’s easy, rub some fat into some flour, add some icy water, mix into a ball and chill (covered) in the fridge for a few hours.  I say pastry is easy because I used to think it was impossible and as a result it was always awful!  Since I took a more relaxed approach and chilled it in the fridge for hours rather than the short time given in recipes its mostly been fine.

I use plain shortcrust just butter, plain flour and cold water.  The topping is sweet enough so I like a plain base to the pie.  I used a 15cm tin with about 150g of shortcrust pastry and 4 or 5 generous spoons of curd.

I baked the pastry case blind (covered in grease-proof paper and dried haricot beans) for 20 mins then another 5 mins without the paper and beans at 190°C.  While that’s happening the meringue needs making.  Wisk up two egg whites in a glass or china bowl that is very very clean and very dry.  Once you have ‘soft peaks’ mix in 110g caster sugar a quarter at a time.  I admit my meringue didn’t look as fluffy as I’d hoped once I beat in the sugar (I think I should be more gentle).  Then I spread too much of my lovely citrus curd onto the now cooked pie base and covered the whole lot in the meringue.

40 mins at 150°C later and hey presto citrus meringue pie!

I’m only telling you all this because it is the first time I’ve made a citrus meringue pie as it is one of my all-time favorite desserts which I didn’t want to mess up.  I need not have feared – it may not have won any prizes for its looks but it sure did taste Divine!

And best of all I’ve still got over half a jar of curd left for having on my breakfast toast.  In fact I may even make some pike-lets to eat with it.  Maybe next week though – I should save some curd for BigD I suppose!

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