FoodGeex

I came home from Winter break with a ton of Ruby Red grapefruit.  These little beauties came off my mother-in-law's tree down in Florida, and for a couple weeks I had a wonderfully tangy breakfast treat.  All the while I intended to make pie, but before that I had to made a curd, and this is something I've never done before.  So I researched a couple of recipes and settled on Martha Stewart's version, as it had an extra step of reducing the juice which I thought was a nice touch.  The following is not my recipe, as I've never made this before, but rather my experience making it.  If it turns out I will have a lovely jar or two of this concoction to use in pies.  If not, I will at least have a story to share.

Protip (or rather newbie tip): timing is everything on this recipe.  I made the mistake of starting a load of dishes before I started cooking, and boy was that a goof.  I ended up with a ton of used equipment, and no dishwasher to clean it with.  Next tip: make sure you prepare all your mis en place and equipment before you begin the process, and that includes having your sieve over the bowl in the ice bath all ready to go.  I am not such a good planner, so I had to do a lot of scrambling to pull out items I had forgotten, and I ended up sieving three times instead of one because of poor planning.  It would also help to have your final container, the one going in the fridge, prepped before you even start whisking.

The final product came out looser than I would have wanted.  It won't exactly set up for a pie, and this was my original plan.  So changing course, I'm using it in mini pies (vanilla wafers, curd, and whipped cream) which works out nicely as a little treat after lunch or dinner.  This still leaves me with a ton of curd to try in other recipes, which should be fun research.

I would call this a successful attempt, because what I created wasn't perfect, but it certainly was has a lovely velvety texture and tastes darn good.