Friday, July 17, 2009

Strawberry Curd


How do 2 people eat an entire flat of strawberries in just 4 days? To the exclusion of nearly everything else. Except for maybe whipped cream. It takes lots of creativity and determination and dessert twice a day. But we did it.

We had plain strawberries, sugared strawberries, strawberries and cream, strawberry ice cream, strawberry verrines, and Strawberry Curd, which we ate by the spoonful, over pink strawberry cupcakes, and in strawberry tartelettes. Four days of strawberry bliss.


For the strawberry cupcakes, I used this cupcake recipe, omitting the vanilla bean, decreasing the vanilla extract to ¼ teaspoon, and substituting 12 ounces strawberries, pureed, for the milk.


I used this tart crust dough for the tartelettes.


Strawberry Curd
Printable Recipe

14 ounces strawberries
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Puree the strawberries in a food mill using a fine disc. Bring the puree to a bare simmer in a small, heavy saucepan. Whisk together the eggs, yolks, and sugar in a large bowl. Continue whisking while adding the hot puree in a thin stream. Place the bowl with the egg mixture over a medium pan of simmering water and heat, whisking constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until thick. Stir in the butter and lemon juice. Chill.

Makes about 2 cups. Keeps for a day or two tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

14 comments:

Shaheen said...

I've recently made some strawberry curd with the strawberries from my allotment plot. I cant wait to try it in a tartlet. Yours do look beautiful. Hopefully I can do justice with mine.

Chocolate Shavings said...

I'm in the middle of creating strawberry recipes too! This curd sounds delicious!

Deeba PAB said...

This is just gorgeous stuff! I very recently made lime curd, & this looks like my next project!

Unknown said...

Those tartlets were delicious! (admit it, you had a little help finishing off the strawberries!)
Also, spray and wash works good from removing them from the husband's pants...no stain!

kamran siddiqi said...

Too good! I want to make some now. Yumm

oneordinaryday said...

I've never thought of using strawberries for a curd before. Very clever! And sounds delicious too!

Lauren said...

Looks like we've both been cooking with strawberries. :) That curd looks so luxurious! Love the color. Did those cupcakes have a strong strawberry flavor? Found you on Tastespotting--beautiful blog!

Lucy Vaserfirer said...

Lauren,
The strawberry flavor definitely comes through in the pink cupcakes.

Lucy Vaserfirer said...

Thanks everybody!

Veron said...

I just got some pretty strawberries from the store last Sunday and it's begging me to make it into some cupcakes but I think would like to try this curd.

Anonymous said...

I just made this curd and it tastes yummy but the second I started pouring a stream into the egg/sugar it turned a pastel color and never changed back to the darker pink like yours.I made sure to pour it really slow so I wouldn't cook the eggs,what went wrong? .

Lucy Vaserfirer said...

Anonymous,
The most likely cause is underripe strawberries. All too often, the strawberries available at the market are less than ripe and whitish near the stem end and in the center. Pale strawberries will of course yield pale puree, and pale puree will result in pale curd. The strawberries I used were perfectly ripe and dark red all the way through.

lhdez90 said...

okay so i boil the strawberries puree (for the curd) then while it's still in the pot i pour the egg mix? and is it two egg and then two egg yolk or just two egg yolks?

Lucy Vaserfirer said...

lhdez90,
It's 2 whole eggs plus an additional 3 yolks. Pour the hot puree from the pan into the bowl with the egg mixture in a thin stream. Whisk the egg mixture the entire time the puree is going in. This is known as tempering and helps prevent the eggs from scrambling.

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