Inspiration comes in the strangest of places. There’s the cliché of the novelist who scrawls plot lines on the back of cocktail coasters. The same applies to food, though I find that dishes need a little nudging from surrounding smells, tastes, and sounds.
Scrolling through Tastespotting the other day I saw a beautiful photo of lemon curd: bright yellow, in a few ball jars, a tiny drip rolling down a side. Later that evening, I had a cup of the stuff chilling in the fridge.
Like tahini (another simple sauce), lemon curd is powerfully inspiring; a nearly blank slate for a bunch of flavors. In this case, whipped cream came to mind. A happy marriage, to be sure, though a mighty soft one, and something you might find served in a plastic cup at a nursing home before bedtime.
I desperately needed a biscuit or some kind of crunch. Maybe a brittle? But I wasn’t in the mood to bake, and, like I said, inspiration comes in the strangest of places. Such as the Met Market on Prince Street, a mid-level supermarket good for (relatively) inexpensive beans, milk, and for my curd, cream. Passing the bread aisle, headed for the peanut butter, I paused before the stacks of Pepperidge Farm white.
Lemon Curd, whipped cream on toast. Of course. Easy. Back home, standing before two bowls, one with lemon curd, the other whipped cream, and a stack of toast, I started to make sandwiches. Unfortunately, when you slice a whipped cream sandwich, the whipped cream tends to pour out the sides. Foiled.
Fortunately, we have striped wallpaper, which is how I decided to make the thing into an open sandwich and pipe out alternating lines of lemon curd and whipped cream. Success by way of Tastespotting, Met Market, and wallpaper. The culinary equivalent of the back of a cocktail coaster.
Lemon Curd w/ Whipped Cream Open Sandwich (from Gourmet via http://cravingchronicles.com/)
Makes about 8 sandwiches
1/2 cup granulated sugar
zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup lemon juice (about 3-4 large lemons)
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
1 cup heavy cream whipped to stiff peaks
white bread, crusts removed
confectioner’s sugar
1. Add all ingredients except butter to a saucepan over Low heat. Whisk to combine. Add butter. Continue whisking gently but constantly, heating slowly, until curd thickens and reaches 160°F on an instant read thermometer. Remove from heat.
2. For the smoothest curd, pour through a fine mesh strainer. Transfer to a storage container. Cover and refrigerate overnight before use. Curd keeps up to 1 week in the fridge.
3. To complete the sandwich: toast the bread on both sides. Place the curd and cream in separate ziplock bags, cut a small hole in the corner and pipe alternating stripes of curd and whipped cream. Dust with confectioner’s sugar. Alternatively, spread toast with lemon curd and top with whipped cream.
4. Chill in freezer for about an hour if desired.
