I haven’t been cooking, baking or photographing much over here recently. It’s been a bit of a tough time for us and my attention has been elsewhere, but I have still been reading.

In lieu of a new recipe, here are a few great posts from around the web…

These parsley root fries with roasted tomato ketchup look salty-addictive.

I love The Kitchn‘s new look!

How to make perfect hot chocolate (very necessary in below-zero Minnesota).

Nigella’s review of two cookbooks is a wonderful read.

Pumpkin spice doughnuts.

I can’t get over how imaginative these guys are.

If you follow me on facebook you know I’ve been reading lots of lovely Nigel.

A great idea for all that lemon curd.

You just know that this blood orange gin sparkler is right up my alley.

(Photo by Sarah Britton.)

Growing up my sister absolutely adored lemon curd. My mum would buy boxes of mini lemon curd tarts for her to take to school in her lunchbox every single day.

I wasn’t head over heels for straight up lemon curd as a child although I was always partial to a slice of lemon tart. However my grown up taste buds LOVE this stuff – as they love all things citrus – and really, what’s not to love?

If you’ve never experienced lemon curd (which I admit has a bit of a funny sounding name) you’re in for a real treat. And contrary to my expectations, it is incredibly easy to make.

What you’ll end up with is a thick, tangy-sweet, incredibly yellow, very lemony preserve perfect for spreading on toast or a good hunk of bread, or for pouring into a pie crust for a killer lemon curd tart.

I looked at a bunch of different recipes – David Lebovitz’s seems to be popular – but I really liked Nigel Slater‘s. Since Meyer lemons tend to be much sweeter than conventional lemons I reduced the amount of sugar here but it’s still wonderfully sweet – so much so that I can’t seem to stop taking giant finger-swipes from the jar. Addictive to say the least.

Meyer Lemon Curd
from Nigel Slater via The Guardian

Ingredients

• zest and juice of 4 unwaxed Meyer lemons (if using regular lemons, increase the sugar to 200g)
• 160g sugar
• 100g butter, cut into cubes
• 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk, mixed gently with a fork

Directions

1. Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, being careful that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Place the lemon zest and juice, sugar and butter into the heatproof bowl. Stir with a whisk from time to time until the butter has melted.
2. Stir the eggs and egg yolk into the lemon mixture. Let the curd cook, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes, until it is thick and custard-like. It should feel heavy on the whisk.
3. Remove from the heat and stir occasionally as it cools. Pour into very clean jam jars (mason jars) and seal. It will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator. Makes 2 small jam jars.

1. Made roasted winter vegetable salad umpteen times for dinner. Obsessed.

2. Got excited about beef. You heard me. There are two recipes I’m hoping to make and share soon that will have you swooning. If you’re a beefeater that is.

3. Posted a link on my homepage to my seasonal recipe guide. See it? Over there —————————–>

4. Met Senator Al Franken.

5. Found my bundt pan languishing in the pantry. Any ideas for a lovely recipe?

6. Remembered how much I love sharing my favourite blogs with you. If you haven’t checked out A Cozy Kitchen, London Bakes, or Hungry Girl Por Vida, you’ll want to get on that.

7. Dreamed of going to Coachella this year and then realised once again that it’s so out of my budget it’s hilarious.

8. Unsurprisingly ate a LOT of cheese at book club. So much that I had an actual cheese hangover the next day.

9. Got a great pep talk from Joy the Baker in this blog post to “always sign up for adventure. Always say yes.”

10. Posted some interesting topics for debate on my facebook page. Love you all for the chat.

What about you? This week you…?

[Read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI and Part VII]