Lemon mandarine curd, the flu and all I could and couldn't do


Last week I was hit by a bout of the flu. Here I was, believing I had managed to escape it, much like I do every year - imagine I escaped the flu, that is, not really escaping it, I never do! - when on Sunday I began feeling all those familiar tells. Sore throat, clogged nose, chills, aching body. I still managed to do a lot of what I had planned for that day, but come the evening, I was a wreck. And I ended up spending the week a veritable wreck. But because I'm a stubborn cow, I had decided not to give in. I had decided this one was not going to throw me down. What did I know? They always throw me down, and I become a snotty, sniveling mess.


I managed to cram in some exercise on Monday, actually, and I didn't finish off feeling worse for wear. I also sat down to write, as I had all these ideas in my head bursting up, they needed to be put down. I did go for a lemon ginger tea, that morning, just as prevention, you know? I was still feeling not too bad, I still had some energy, the school runs didn't feel like I was dragging boulders up the street while I walked against hails and gales of wind. By late afternoon, all I wanted was to lie down with a blanket. I think my husbad ended up makig dinner that day. It's a bit of a fuzzy mess, actually, as I was really spaced out somewhere else in my head.


From there onwards it was all down the hill. Next day I couldn't be bothered with exercising, I couldn't be bothered with much of anything except working on my manuscript. I was out of edited photos for my blog, I hadn't the will to cook up stuff, not even did I find the energy to bake a cake I had been thinking of for the whole of the previous week. I managed to post a cake I had baked during the Holidays season, but I couldn't go any further than that. I felt dreadful. All I really wanted was to listen to music - Darkher on repeat, all the time! - and write sobby scenes for my witches and my vampires. Suffice to say I have a lot of editing to do... and it's not going to be pleasant reading those chapters - cue in the enormous cringe factor!


But as luck would have it, the day I came down with the flu was the day I had managed to make a batch of lemon mandarine curd, which I had wanted to do for Marta's January table. See, the ingredient of the month is mandarines, and my mother in law has a mandarine tree in her garden, the fruits of which are delicious, juicy, sweet, a dream! We had brought plenty of mandarines and lemons from her garden, and I really wanted to used them in a curd. I love curds in January, they bring back a sense of warmth and light. I had done the curd, I had managed to photograph it even, I just hadn't edited the pictures...


Well, I did edit them last weekend, so here it is, still in time for Marta's table! Here it goes, then:

  • 3 eggs
  • 200 gr sugar
  • 125 gr unsalted butter, cubed
  • juice of three unwaxed lemons + juice of one mandarine
  • 2 heaped tablespoons of lemon and mandarine zest
On a heatproof glass bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar, juice and zest of the citrus. Place a pan on the stove at medium heat and pour 2,5 cm of water into it. Once it's simmering, lower the heat and place the bowl over this pan, making sure the bottom is not in direct contact with the water. Keep whisking lightly and let the mix warm up. Now add the cubed butter and whisk to incorporate. Keep whisking until the mixture thickens enough to cover the back of a wooden spoon without running. Pour onto sterilysed jars and keep in the fridge. Nothing beats a piece of toast with citrus curd on a cold Winter morning!!




Comments

  1. Olá minha querida...
    espero que estejas bem melhor! Eu este ano também já fui atacada pela gripe, coisa que nem costuma acontecer. Mas foi um episódio de 3 dias no máximo, 2 dos quais nem me conseguia mexer...é horrível, completamente. Por isso espero que seja uma coisa passada.
    Adoro curd, especialmente se forem curds de citrinos. Gosto até de os comer à colher
    !! :)
    Aposto que este teu ficou excelente!
    Não costumo é fazer como tu fizeste, em banho-maria...tenho de experimentar dessa maneira.
    Obrigado minha querida por mais esta receitinha para a nossa mesa de janeiro :)

    Beijocas enormes
    Marta

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Felizmente já estou porreira, mas foi mm manhosa, livraaaaa!!! Obrigada *

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  2. I love lemon curd. Love your recipe :)

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