Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Lemon curd

 

    I've been trying so hard to do food styling myself. Things don't turn out as planned. I always make a mess and waste lots of time figuring out the recipe. When food is finally prepared, it's time of sunset, and the beautiful natural light is gone. So I tend to make simple food which doesn't require too much time or too many ingredients. Like this lemon curd. Lemon, butter, sugar, salt, and eggs are all I need. From the advice given by experienced photographers, I've spread out words, looking for a food stylist to work together. So I get the food prepared by professionals, and they get my photograghs.  Win-win right?

    On Monday, I checked out a retiring prop stylist's blowout sale. She has thousands of items crammed into her one bedroom apartment. Besides the bed, I didn't see any space available for a normal life. The cutting board, pink bowl and grey napkin are some of the items I got from her. The sale is still going on till Saturday, and she wants everything out by then. The prices are quite reseaonable compared to renting from a prop store. If you happen to live in NYC, it's something worth checking out! If you are interested, shoot me an email and I can send you the specific address. 



LEMON CURD // Makes 1ish Cups 
Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz

1/2 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
1/3 Cup Natural Cane Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Egg Yolks
6 Tbsp. Light Butter
pinch of Salt

1. Place a mesh strainer over a bowl, and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the lemon juice, sugar, egg yolks, eggs, and salt.
3. Add the butter cubes and set the pan over low heat, whisking constantly until the butter is melted.
4. Increase the heat a VERY LITTLE bit and cook over moderate heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and just begins to become jelly-like. It’s done when you lift the whisk and the mixture holds its shape when it falls back into the saucepan from the whisk. For me, this took about ten minutes in a 12” pan.
5. Immediately press the curd through the strainer. Once strained, store the lemon curd in the refrigerator.




2 comments:

Ryan Edwards said...

oh man, that looks so good...I have GOT to try that when I get back from Afghanistan! I also like the vertical composition you used in some of the photos!

M-I-L said...

I love your comments and the photographs ALWAYS make me hungry!