Rhubarb & Blood Orange Curd
This past couple of weeks, the weather has been frustrating here in Buckinghamshire. Shifting quickly from low double figures to below freezing, with wind chills feeling minus degrees. Snow one day, and warm sunshine the next day; it seems that my outfit changes every hour. I am definitely and totally ready for spring weather to arrive, and to start wearing lighter clothing again. There is so much to look forward to at this time of year, the garden for one is slowly emerging from winter and I can see signs of buds and spring flowers.
I had fully intended to post a comforting wintery savoury dish this week because of the weather but with forced rhubarb starting to appear in the grocers, which for me is a sign of Spring and all the wonderful fruit and vegetables to come, I had to post something with a Spring feel. That said we are still in the citrus season, with blood oranges now at their best. I love the combination of rhubarb and orange and curd is incredibly versatile. Added to live yoghurt and a sprinkling of granola makes a lovely breakfast. It also transforms a meringue roulade to new heights, but my favourite has to be the curd poured into a buttery almond pastry case and topped with poached rhubarb, it looks so pretty.
Forced Rhubarb
Rhubarb & Blood Orange Curd
Rhubarb & Blood Orange Curd
Ingredients
- 400 g Forced Rhubarb
- 200 mls Blood Orange Juice 2-3 Oranges & Zest or 1
- 2 Large Eggs
- 3 Large Egg Yolks
- 1 Tbl Lemon juice
- 4 tsp Cornflour
- 150 g Caster Sugar
- 150 g Unsalted Butter cubed
Instructions
- Chop the rhubarb into 4cm pieces and place in a small saucepan with the orange juice and the zest of the blood orange. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 8-10 minutes until rhubarb is soft and you have a nice pink juice. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing with a wooden spoon to squeeze out all the juice. Discard the pulp and set the strained juice to one side to cool.
- In a bowl whisk together the egg, sugar and cornflour, pour this into a saucepan and add the cooled rhubarb pulp and the lemon juice. Set the pan over medium heat and add the cubed butter, now whisk continuously using a balloon whisk until the curd thickens, this will take approximately 8-10 minutes. Turn the heat down and gently simmer for a further minute. When you have the consistency of yoghurt sieve the curd into a clean bowl to get rid of any eggy bits that may have curdled. The vibrant crimson of the fruit juice and pulp becomes more of a subtle blushing pink through the cooking process.
- Pour the curd into sterilised jam jars and store in the fridge for up to 10 days.
If you have a thermomix from stage 2 you can place the eggs, sugar and cornflour in the thermo jug blend for 5 seconds, speed 4 then add the rest of the ingredients and set to 90C, speed 3 for 10 minutes, then 95C for a further 3-4 minutes.
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