sweetness
Recipe: blood orange curd
When we moved to Colorado, we quickly learned that you don’t wait for an opening in your schedule to do things around here… you take advantage when the opportunity presents itself. I’m referring to the weather, but it applies to life in general. But it’s the weather that dictates everything around here. These past few days have been perfectly calm, cold, and snowy. Calm is the operative word. Calm means the snow isn’t scoured from the trails. Calm means 4Β°F feels pretty warm in the sun. Calm is when you get out into it.
into the snow, that is
I had a lovely solo ski tour one snowy afternoon. Solo because Kaweah stayed home. I love taking her with me, but it’s always a short 3-4 miles with her. I wanted to explore further and really feel that burn in my legs, back, and arms.
solitude and the path you take
drinking in the vistas
And then we were greeted with five more inches of snow in the morning, which is the true Breakfast of Champions. Winds still calm. Grab the day by the bazingas! Here’s a little bit of what an awesome day looks like to me:
what a morning, what a view
bluebird here, socked in with clouds on the flats
lunch at sushi tora (in boulder)
meeting jason’s new puppy, buck!
While we’re talking about making the most of a good thing, blood oranges are in season! They’re in my local Whole Foods and I’ve been enjoying them as a snack or in salads. In my head, I think the blood oranges are less acidic and have a touch of a cherry flavor to them compared to let’s say, navel oranges. That could be me cuing off the visually striking red color, with which I must confess to being completely enamored. We love reds in fall colors, in sunsets, in birds, in flowers, in fruits and vegetables.
blood oranges, eggs, lemon, sugar, butter
zest and juice the oranges
Originally, the plan was to make a half recipe of blood orange curd. Then I found a cute recipe to pair it with and decided to go ahead and do the full quantity. It only really requires two blood oranges, but I kinda went grab-happy at the store last week.
more: butter, egg yolks, orange zest, blood orange juice, lemon juice, sugar
add blood orange juice to the yolks, sugar, and lemon juice
Making the curd is a straightforward process (don’t wear a white shirt, though) that involves whisking the yolks, sugar, and juices together over low heat until it thickens. In case you are doing this for the first time, you shouldn’t expect it to thicken right away. It took me about 10 minutes. At first it just seems like you are stirring juice around and around. Then a foam begins to form on top, but it’s still a liquid. At some point, the foam seems to take over and the contents of the saucepan take on a lighter color and thicker consistency. Now you’re getting somewhere. Continue stirring over low heat until it is thick enough to coat a spoon.
it will end up lighter than it started
then stir in the butter
and add the zest
Once cooled, the resulting blood orange curd is rich, smooth, and bright. There’s enough tartness to make you salivate when you taste it. Citrus curds are fantastic with scones or incorporated into pastries or sampled with a spoon. And I love the color. I’ll show you what I did with the rest of the blood orange curd in my next post.
it would make a sweet gift
or a delightful part of any afternoon tea
Blood Orange Curd
[print recipe]
Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax
12 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup blood orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
8 oz. (16 tbsps) unsalted butter, cold, but into pieces
zest of 2 blood oranges
Place the egg yolks, sugar, lemon, blood orange juice, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan over low heat, whisking constantly. Whisk until the curd thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This takes a while and if you haven’t done it before, you might think something has gone wrong. Just keep stirring for about ten minutes over low heat. It will be liquidy and then it will become foamy. Eventually the whole thing will seem to get foamy and light colored, but that is when it starts to thicken. Remove from heat. Whisk the cold butter into the curd a few pieces at a time until they are melted and all of the butter is incorporated. Whisk the zest in. Let cool and refrigerate. Makes about a pint.
February 8th, 2012 at 5:04 am
That puppy is adorable!! Also, YUM to this curd. Love it!
February 8th, 2012 at 5:36 am
Sweet puppy! What a great day. I’ve been feeling very restless recently, and have not liked it. I need to find some sunshine, puppies, have lunch with a friend, and try something new & exciting in the kitchen. Thanks for the inspiration!
February 8th, 2012 at 8:33 am
I bought a large bag of blood oranges – now I have something else to do with them.
February 8th, 2012 at 10:47 am
Pretty please post to Punk Domestics? (Also, the puppy is impossibly cute!)
February 8th, 2012 at 11:00 am
Sean – anything for you, sweetheart :) xo
February 8th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Lovely! Is the scone recipe the one on your blog? Or soon to be? They look delightful, too.
February 8th, 2012 at 12:37 pm
Wow, this looks delicious. I have a basket full of blood oranges at home right now destine for this recipe :)
February 8th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
Love curd stirred thru plain yogurt. Love blood oranges too.
February 9th, 2012 at 6:41 am
That dog is adorable…Love the blood orange curd also. Great inspiration.
February 12th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
This is stunning. I absolutely love the orangey pink color! We’ve just launched our all new seasonalpotluck.com and February is oranges month. If you’d like to link up your recipe, we’d love to have you!
February 14th, 2012 at 10:39 pm
Tracy – the scones are from Whole Foods, but if you have the time, definitely make the ones in my recipe archive – they are so much better than store-bought.
February 16th, 2012 at 4:19 am
I have to say I really live the photos of those egg yolks.
February 16th, 2012 at 4:19 am
Love* sorry about that.
February 29th, 2012 at 12:31 pm
[…] And for a few more beautiful citrus curd recipes, check out: Grapefruit Curd from Blue Kale Road A Dozen Lemons and Twelve Eggs from Mrs. Wheelbarrow Blood Orange Curd from Use Real Butter […]
January 15th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
[…] Blood Orange Curd. I have made my own jams, but I’ve never attempted curd. I adore lemon curd, and I think this […]
June 17th, 2013 at 10:22 am
[…] adapted from:Β http://userealbutter.com/2012/02/07/blood-orange-curd-recipe/ […]
June 17th, 2013 at 10:26 am
[…] adapted from:Β http://userealbutter.com/2012/02/07/blood-orange-curd-recipe/ […]