ROSEMARY LEMON CURD

I'm not a member of the Slow Food movement, I'm never been much for membership things, but I like it a lot. I like most things slow except when I drive and I end up behind a slow driver, then I'm all for fast even though I know it's wrong. I know it's really difficult to live slowly nowadays, I have problems with it despite the fact that I have renounced of a lot of things like comforts, money and such in order to live in a slower way, but I think we all should try to cook slower at least once a week or when we have the time. Last week I read a book review by Barbara over at Tigers & Strawberries, Cooking At Home With Pedatha: Vegetarian Recipes From a Traditional Andhra Kitchen, where she writes about Pedatha's views on cooking as "... a deeply spiritual act which is intimate and intensely personal, yet which is so often treated as something to be taken for granted as simply impersonal “fuel” for immediate consumption and gratification without any reflection upon the holiness of the acts of cooking and eating. She is an embodiment of the philosophy of “Slow Food;” when asked by the authors how long it would take to cook a certain dish she answered, “As long as it takes for a good dish to be ready.”" (Citation from Tigers & Strawberries, if you mind Barbara, I'll remove it) I cannot but agree to this, even as a non-believer I find cooking spiritual in a strange way. To me cooking is a meditative occupation (well not the Daring Baker's Challenges, that's for sure! After this weekend's baking I need a vacation. More about this the 27th) and I really think that certain dishes taste better for the time, care and energy put into their making. I know that I share this view with at least one of my readers, Pat Fusco, who has written an article about it in this week's Pacific Sun issue. When I read it, I reached out for my mortar and the basil because I just had to make some pesto for lunch and when my oldest daughter came into the kitchen she said: "Oh mmm, pesto!", you don't get that perfume floating in the air by using a blender do you? I'm really flattered because she is citing me but the reason why I think you should click over to read the article is not that but because I think it's a great article on an important aspect of life.



Last week I was given a huge bag of Apulian lemons so I'm busy disposing of these. Now next time I make lemon curd I will do it the slow way, i.e. grating the zest with lumps of sugar because I think it will make the texture better. And it will probably taste even better but as this was the first time I ever dared to make lemon curd I made it the easy way. I have loved lemon curd since a child but I rarely eat it and I never dared to make it but somehow I'm happy I never did it before because then I wouldn't have had this nice experience now! I made two batches, first I followed a traditional recipe but I found that too sweet so I made a second batch with almost half the sugar and I added fresh rosemary to spiff it up a bit!





ROSEMARY LEMON CURD

2 eggs
150 g / 5 1/4 oz sugar, I used light brown
2 lemons, the grated zest and the juice from both of them
100 g / 3 1/2 oz salted butter
A sprig of fresh rosemary, as much as you want. Either chop it or pestle it lightly.

- Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients.
- Put the bowl in a pan of boiling water or a bain-marie and stir until it has thickened.
- Put the lemon curd in very clean jars. Or do as I did, keep it in a plastic container in the fridge and eat it up fast!