Lemon Curd and Mousse

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Lemon Curd Serves: makes about a pint Makes about 7-8 goblets. Ingredients: 3 large eggs 3 large eggs yolks 1/2 cup sugar zest of 1 lemon (strip the lemon of zest before you juice) 1/2 cup lemon juice (Five or six lemons should do it)* NO: 2-3 max! pinch of salt 2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, cut up into small pieces** * (if you want this to taste fresh and vibrant, not chemically and processed, you MUST squeeze your own lemons. Taking the time is beyond worth it.) ** TOO MUCH ! – most recipes use less than 4 oz – ½ cup, else it tastes more like butter than lemon. Instructions: 1. First gather all your ingredients.

Transcript of Lemon Curd and Mousse

Page 1: Lemon Curd and Mousse

Lemon Curd

Serves: makes about a pint Makes about 7-8 goblets.

Ingredients:

3 large eggs3 large eggs yolks1/2 cup sugarzest of 1 lemon (strip the lemon of zest before you juice)1/2 cup lemon juice  (Five or six lemons should do it)* NO: 2-3 max!pinch of salt2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, cut up into small pieces**

* (if you want this to taste fresh and vibrant, not chemically and processed, you MUST squeeze your own lemons. Taking the time is beyond worth it.)

** TOO MUCH ! – most recipes use less than 4 oz – ½ cup, else it tastes more like butter than lemon.

Instructions:

1. First gather all your ingredients. 

2. Fill a medium pot with a couple of inches of waterand bring to a boil. We’re going to improvise a double boiler.

3. Pour the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt into a large bowl. (Keep the butter chilled.)

Whisk it up.

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4.   Set the bowl over the pot with boiling water. This is our faux double boiler.

5. Now whisk like a hurricane, fast and furious. You must whisk the entire time the bowl is over the water. Keep the mixture moving, so the eggs don’t get a chance to scramble.

After a few minutes (five?) it starts to get frothy. (If necessary, hold the bowl still by gripping the edge with a kitchen towel.)

6.

Keep on whiskin’. After a few more minutes (five more?), it transforms intosomething creamy.

Whisk for another minute just to thicken it up.

7. Take the bowl off the heat.

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8. Feed it a handful of butter and whisk it in. The residual heat of the curd will melt it. Keep adding handfuls of butter until it’s all in and fully incorporated.

If you still see any little lumps, return to the double boiler for a brief minute, untilthey disappears, but this is rarely necessary. 

9. Push the curd though a fine mesh sieve to remove the stray bits of scrambled egg that didn’t cooperate. 

10. Put a piece of plastic wrap directly on its surface to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate.

Once it’s completely cold, wrap the wholecontainer tightly and store. (The curd will firm up considerably as it cools. Give it a good stir to loosen it up again before using.)

You can store it in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze for up to a month.

To defrost, let the container thaw in the fridge overnight.

http://www.pastrypal.com/2009/07/lemon-mousse-in-60-seconds/

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Second, the Lemon Mousse

Servings: 6-8

Talk about being able to whip up a dessert on the fly! This makes 6-8 servings, depending on how much you can put away in one sitting. In my house, sometimes it’s even less than 6.

1 cup heavy cream1/4 cup sugar1 1/2 cups lemon curd (recipe above)

1. The add-ons. 

2. Throw the sugar in with the heavy cream and whisk your buns off.

We want it to reach “soft peak” stage, which means you can see streaks in the cream, but the peaks are not stiff and defined. The peaks should be sad and droopy.

 

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3. Because we whipped air into the cream and made it light and delicate, and because the curd is heavy and dense, we will fold thecream into the curd gradually, so we don’t completely deflate thecream.

Scoop a third of the whipped cream into the bowl with the curd. You can eyeball this. It doesn’t have to be exact.

Gently fold it in.

 

Here it is folded. You can see it looks lighter already.

 

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4. Scrape in the rest of the heavy cream and fold it in.

 

 

5. Spoon into pretty wares. This can be served right away, or refrigerated for up to 8 hours.

Enjoy!