Blood Orange Curd and Icecream

January/February is the time of year for blood oranges – so called because of the colour of their flesh.  The intensity of the colour when you cut into them varies greatly as you can see from the photo.  But no matter what the colour turns out to be blood oranges have a wonderfully concentrated vibrant flavour and are a joy to use in many different dishes

This particular recipe uses blood oranges as a seasonal variation to lemon curd.  It’s such a shame that fruit curds seem to have gone out of fashion – bring them back I say!  Curds are an easy thing to make and ideal for getting the kids involved  They taste great slathered on toast or used as a filling for a sponge cake or a topping for a cheesecake.  If you want to make lemon curd or passion fruit curd go to end of post to see the list of ingredients for these curds and follow the same method as below

Blood orange curd and meringue icecream

Lemon/Passionfruit/BloodOrange Curd and Meringue Icecream Curds also make a great base for an easy ice-cream particularly with some meringue crumbled in.  It’s a great standby pudding and well worth having in your repetoire.   Just whip 500ml of double cream, fold in most of the curd from a jar then crumble in meringues.  Taste to see if you want to add more curd remembering flavours dull when eaten frozen. Ripple through rest of curd then freeze   Allow to soften in fridge for 20mins before eating   You can use shop bought curd and meringues for this recipe and, it makes a great mousse/fool like pudding served unfrozen in pretty glasses should you be in a rush

A few tips – Try to use unwaxed fruit for zesting or else scrub the fruit well under warm water to remove it.  By using a Bain Marie (a bowl set over a pan of simmering water so bottom of bowl does not touch water) and whisking all the time you will prevent any chance of the curd turning to weird scrambled eggs.  You can, of course, pass the curd through a sieve if you don’t think it’s smooth enough.    Finally an easy way to sterilise the jars Is to leave them in the oven at 140c for 5 minutes before turning off heat and leaving in oven until you want to use

Blood oranges waiting to be juiced

Ingredients waiting to be whisked together

Curd being whisked on top of Bain marie

Ingredients (makes 2 jars)

• 200ml blood orange juice
• Zest of 2 blood oranges
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 2 whole eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 85g caster sugar
• 100g unsalted butter

Jars of curd

Method

1. Beat the whole eggs and yolks together in a roomy heat proof bowl
2. Add all the rest of the ingredients
3. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water making sure the bottom of the pan doesn’t touch the water
4. Whisk constantly for 10-15 minutes until curd has thickened and coats the back of a spoon
5. Remove bowl from heat and allow to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally
6. Put curd into sterilised jars, seal and put in fridge
7. Curd will keep for up to 3 weeks in jar in fridge. Once opened use within 7 days.

MORE FRUIT CURDS

For lemon curd (makes 2 jars)

• 200ml lemon juice (5-6 large lemons) and zest of 4
• 250g caster sugar
• 100g unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

For Passion Fruit Curd

• 250ml passion fruit juice with 3/4 seeds strained out so finished curd isn’t too crunchy
• 2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
• 120g unsalted butter, cubed
• 80g caster sugar