Recipe: Goose egg lemon curd

In general, weather conditions allowing, geese lay from about the middle of February until mid-May. What a joy it is to find that first egg, pure white in colour, just like goose feathers.

It’s a sign that spring is arriving. One goose egg is equivalent to three chicken eggs, but the proportion of yolk to white is higher, adding richness when used in baking. Lemon curd made with goose eggs is in a class of its own. The neon-yellow shines through the jar. Try to find the freshest possible eggs – your local farmers’ market is probably the best bet.

Goose egg lemon curd

MAKES 4 X 225G JARS
finely grated zest and juice of 8 large unwaxed lemons
400g granulated sugar
200g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
2 goose eggs, lightly beaten

1 Put the grated lemon zest and juice, sugar and unsalted butter into a heatproof bowl and place it over a pan of simmering water, ensuring that the base of the bowl does not come into contact with the water.
2 Stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has
melted. The mixture should be nice and warm, but not hot or the eggs will curdle.
3 Strain the beaten eggs through a sieve into the bowl.
4 Using a balloon whisk, whisk the curd gently for about 15 mins, until it thickens to a custard-like consistency and feels heavy on the whisk.
5 Remove the bowl from the heat and leave to cool, stirring occasionally. Pour the curd into sterilised jars and seal.
6 Store in the fridge and use within 28 days.

From Fern Verrow: A Year Of Recipes From A Farm And Its Kitchen by Jane Scotter and Harry Astley. Photographs by Tessa Traeger (Quadrille)

This recipe was originally published in The Simple Things Issue 45, which you can order from our online store. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

From our March issue…

More spring recipes…

Potted Histories | The Kilner Jar

Kilner jars are a staple of the nation’s larders. We thought we’d lift the lid on their history

The Kilner company was originally established as a bottle manufacturer, with the Kilner Glassworks being founded by John Kilner in 1842 in Thornhill Lees, West Yorkshire, making bottles and apothecary items. The company passed to Kilner’s four sons on his death and continued to be hugely successful, even accepting an award at The Great Exhibition in 1862 for innovation in glassmaking. 

But in 1871 the company was taken to court over the coal smoke that billowed from its chimneys, polluting the neighbouring land. The judge ruled that ‘no man has the right to interfere with the supply of clean air.’ The factory was forced to close temporarily in order to convert to gas furnaces but managed to get back on its feet, even investing in new mechanisation as the end of the century loomed.

It wasn’t until 1900 that Kilner produced its first jar with its famous patented vacuum seal, still recognisable to bottler and preservers today. But in the first decades of the 20th century, competition in the industry saw Kilner suffer and eventually in 1937 the company went bankrupt and the patents and were sold to United Glass Bottle Manufacturers. 

Despite the business leaving the hands of the Kilner family, the jar itself went from strength to strength. In the 1960s the first Kilner jars with metal discs and screw bands were introduced and in the 1970s replaced with a less attractive but very practical plastic screw band. 

In 2000 the Rayware Group bought the patent, design and trademark for the original Kilner jar and today the range includes everything from infusion jars to make-and-take Kilners for picnics, and specially designed tops for every job from butter-churning to spiralizing. 

So next time you’re bottling tomatoes or packing up your salad lunch, consider that you’re screwing the lid onto a Victorian miracle and 120 years of glassmaking history.

In our October issue, we’ve curated a few pages of photographs of lovely larders, including the one above by @designermumetc.

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Things to make and put in jars…

Recipe: Seville and Blood Orange Marmalade

With Seville oranges in season, it's marmalade time. And this blood orange recipe celebrates all that's flavoursome about the citrus classic.

Seville and blood orange marmalade

Preparation time: 30 minutes 
Cooking time: 90 minutes

500g Seville oranges 
500g blood oranges 
1kg granulated sugar 

You will need:
Muslin cloth
Kitchen string
3 large jam jars (or 6 small ones)
Jam thermometer

1 Clean the oranges well and place whole into a large pan. Cover with 4 pints of water (2.25l) and bring to the boil. Reduce to simmer for 1 hour or until the fruit is soft.
2 Remove the oranges from the pan, without discarding any of the cooking liquid, and set aside to cool. Measure out 3 pints of the cooking liquid, topping up if needed with more water.
3 Halve the cooled oranges and scoop out the flesh and pips into a muslin cloth (or white tea-towel); tie with food-safe string. 
4 Place the muslin package into the pan with the 3 pints of cooking liquid.
5 Slice the orange peel as preferred. Add to the pan. Add the sugar and stir over a low heat until dissolved. Bring to a rolling boil for 15 mins. After this time, keep boiling at a lower temp until the liquid reaches 105C. Take off the heat and let sit for a moment before skimming off any scum from the top of the liquid. Pour into hot, sterilised jam jars and seal. 

This blog was first published in January 2012. Pick up our January 2020 for lots more delicious things to do with oranges and lemons.

From our January issue…

More preserves to make…

Recipe | Chocolate & hazelnut granola

Homemade granola is so much better than shop-bought, especially when it’s a luxurious chocolate and hazelnut one. Once made and cooled, this will keep for several weeks in an airtight container.

Serves 6

100g salted butter
200ml honey
2 tbsp cocoa powder
250g porridge oats
200g hazelnuts, blanched and roughly chopped
200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. Melt the butter in a large pan with the honey and cocoa powder. Tip in the rest of the ingredients and mix well until everything is combined.

2 Tip the mixture onto a large baking tray, spread it out and press down lightly. Bake for 18 mins, then remove from the oven and leave to cool completely. When cool, break into chunks and store in an airtight container. Serve with yogurt and fruit.

Turn to page 38 of August's The Simple Things for more of our staple foods feature on hazelnuts from Lia Leendertz.

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View the sampler here.

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Recipe | Preserved roasted peppers

When you have a glut of sweet peppers, one of the most delicious things to do with them is to roast them and preserve them in vinegar and oil. Long slow cooking brings out their sweetness, and they make a brilliant addition to mezze and an excellent pizza topping.

Makes 1 jar
8 peppers
White wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil

YOU WILL NEED
450ml Kilner jar or equivalent, sterilised

1 Preheat the grill. Put the whole peppers on a baking tray and grill, turning, until blackened all over.
2 Tip the peppers into a large bowl, cover tightly with cling film and leave to cool completely: the cling film traps the steam and helps to separate the skins from the flesh.
3 Once cool, peel away the blackened skins and discard, then open up the peppers to remove the seeds and stems. Tear the flesh into wide strips and drop it into a bowl, along with as much of the juices as you can capture, then tip everything into a sterilised jar.
4 Pour enough vinegar over the peppers to cover, and use a knife to agitate them a little and get rid of any air bubbles, then top with a small slick of olive oil. Seal the jar and transfer to the fridge. Eat within a month.

Turn to page 38 of August's The Simple Things for more of our staple foods feature on peppers from Lia Leendertz.

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View the sampler here.

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Recipe | Sweetcorn relish

With a shorter cooking time than chutney, sweetcorn relish keeps its crunch

This lovely chunky relish is particularly excellent on burgers and hotdogs – just the thing for a barbecue. Because of their short cooking time, the veg in relishes have a lovely crisp texture, but this does mean that they won’t store as long as other preserves such as chutney. Keep this in the fridge and eat within two weeks.

Sweetcorn relish

Makes 3 jars
1 onion, finely diced
Raw kernels from 3 sweetcorn cobs
1⁄2 red pepper, finely diced
1⁄2 green pepper, finely diced
1⁄2 orange pepper, finely diced
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced
300ml cider vinegar
125g granulated sugar

you will need:
3 sterilised jars, vinegar-resistant lids, and labels

Put all of the ingredients into a large saucepan and heat gently, stirring. When the sugar has dissolved, simmer for 15 mins, stirring every now and then to prevent it sticking and burning. When the liquid has thickened and coated the vegetables, spoon them into the sterilised jars and top each with a little of the cooking liquid. Seal and leave to cool.
 

Turn to page 38 of August's The Simple Things for more of our staple foods feature on sweetcorn from Lia Leendertz.

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Plum cordial

Rich, fruity and jewel coloured, this makes a ridiculously pretty pink drink when diluted with fizzy water (or with a measure of gin and a splash of soda)

If you think you will get through 700ml in no time, there is no need to add the citric acid or to sterilise the bottle, as it will keep in the fridge for several weeks.

Plum cordial

Makes 700ml
1kg plums
250ml water
1 heaped tsp citric acid
600g granulated sugar per litre juice
YOU WILL NEED
A muslin or jelly bag
A funnel
A 700ml bottle and stopper, both sterilised

1 Put the plums and water into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer until the plums soften and start to fall away from the stones, and use a wooden spoon to squash them to help to release as much of the juices as possible.
2 Tip everything into a jelly bag- or muslin-lined colander, and leave to drip into a saucepan for a few hours or overnight. Resist squeezing, as this will cloud the juice.
3 Measure the juice into a clean saucepan and add 600g of sugar per litre, and the citric acid, if using. Put the pan over a low heat and stir until all of the sugar is dissolved. Pour into the sterilised bottle and seal. It will keep for 3–4 months, stored somewhere dark and cool.

Turn to page 42 for more of our staple foods feature on plums from Lia Leendertz.

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Green onion kimchi

This Korean condiment is made by fermenting seasonal veg with fish sauce and spices. Delicious eaten as a pickle, it’s also fantastic in a toasted cheese sandwich.

Makes 1 large jar
100g spring onions
115ml fish sauce
235ml water
2 tbsp rice flour
4 tbsp cayenne or Korean chilli powder
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame seeds
3 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp minced ginger

1 Into a large bowl place the spring onions and fish sauce, and mix thoroughly; leave it all to sit
for an hour.
2 Put the water and rice flour into a small saucepan and heat, stirring, until it starts to boil. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
3 When the mixture has cooled, add the cayenne or chilli powder, sugar, sesame seeds, garlic and ginger. Pour this over the spring onions and then use your hands (gloves are advised!) to make sure each onion is coated in the mixture.
4 Tie each onion into a knot and place it in a large sterilised jar, then tip over the rest of the sauce and seal. The jar should then be kept at room temperature. It will start to ferment almost immediately and can be eaten after a couple of days, but the flavour will develop over the next few weeks. Will keep in the fridge for up to three months.

Turn to page 34 for more onion recipes from Lia Leendertz.

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Turmeric pickled cauliflower & chilli

Cauliflower makes a good crunchy pickle with a touch of heat – just the thing to go with cheese and crackers

Makes 2 jars
1 head cauliflower
4 chilli peppers
400ml distilled vinegar
400ml water
2 tbsp granulated sugar
11⁄2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp coriander seeds

1 Break the cauliflower into florets, halving or quartering the larger ones so that each is bite sized. Slice the chillies in half and scoop out and discard the seeds (unless you want a very fiery pickle, in which case leave them). Pack these into sterilised jars.
2 In a pan gently heat the vinegar, water, sugar, salt and spices until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins.
3 Pour the hot liquid over the veg, making sure they’re completely covered. Seal and store in a cool, dark place.

Cook’s note: You can eat this after a week, but the flavours will have more chance to mellow and develop if you wait for a month or longer. Will store, sealed, for at least a year.

Turn to page 42 for more cauliflower recipes from Lia Leendertz.

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Recipe | Christmas kraut

This delicious, good-for-your-gut sauerkraut is full of festive flavour. It beats braised cabbage hands down and is brilliant with leftovers on Boxing Day and beyond.

Makes about 1 litre
1 red cabbage
1 apple, unpeeled, finely diced
1 heaped tbsp sea salt
10 cloves and/or a grating of nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice
2 star anise
4–5 slices of fresh ginger
3 bay leaves
Zest of 1 orange or 2 clementines
1 cinnamon stick

WELL PRESERVED

• Always use sterilised jars and thoroughly clean equipment.
• Use sea salt. Avoid table salt with iodine and/or anti-caking agents, which can inhibit fermentation.
• If water is needed, opt for filtered or mineral water. Most tap water contains chlorine, which can inhibit fermentation. You’ll want to rinse your veg in it, too.

1 Peel off the first few leaves of the cabbage, rinse, pat dry and set aside. Finely shred the rest of the cabbage. Pile it into a large bowl with the apple, salt and cloves. Scrunch together for 5 mins or until the mixture releases about 6 tbsp juice.
2 Add the remaining spices, ginger, herbs and zest, and give the mixture a final scrunch. Tuck in the cinnamon stick, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside for a few hours or overnight.
3 Pack into a sterilised jar (a large 1–2 litre one, such as a big Kilner jar is ideal), pressing it down to help the cabbage release more of its juices. Set the big cabbage leaves on top and press down so that the leaves are fully submerged. Set a little jam jar on top of the mixture and weigh it down (or a sealed ziplock bag filled with pebbles works well). Secure with a lid and leave at room temperature in a warm, dark place for 3–4 days, or as long as 2 weeks, opening the lid every day to release any gases and check the liquid still covers the veg.
4 The best way to know if the cabbage is done is to taste it. If it tastes like kraut, it’s kraut. If it’s too salty, it’s not quite ready. Once you’re happy with it, pop it in the fridge, where it will keep for up to 6 months. 

Turn to page 39 of October's The Simple Things for more preserving recipes, including spiced blackberry vinegar, woodchip-fermented chilli sauce, dried apple rings and dried mushrooms.

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Living: Jam making and preserving

The growing season may be almost over, but the preserving season is in full swing. If you have a spare afternoon and a freezer fruit glut, it's the best time of year to stir some fruit in a cauldron-like pan

Turn to page 42 of October's The Simple Things for Lia Leendertz's recipes for Blackberry and vanilla jam, Spiced damson and apple jelly, and Pink grapefruit and ginger marmalade.

Want some tips on pickling, pantries and preserves? Issue 39 of The Simple Things (September 2015) has plenty of tips beginning on page 116 (get back issues here!), or read on. 

Jam-making, an act steeped in nostalgia and nest making, is hard to resist, and at this time of year when rich fruit pickings abound, not just in the garden or allotment but also in the hedgerow, it feels almost like a duty to do it. This simple act of husbandry fills the kitchen with comforting smells and activity, the pantry with provisions and distils the essence of summer in a jar.

But before you disrupt the household with bubbling pans and empty jam jars, pull on an apron and gather together a few items.

A preserving pan (sometimes called a maslin pan) is essential, the stronger the better and preferably made of stainless steel which won't corrode. A jam thermometer takes the guesswork out of reaching the setting point, and a long-handled preserving spoon is handy for safe stirring. A jam funnel makes pouring hot jam into Kilner jars a simpler operation and a variety of labels and covers gives the end result a decorative flourish.

Preserving brings a little of the summer's flavour and colour to the chillier months when the choice of seasonal food is limited. But which preservation method to go for? Here are some options:

Pickling: fruit and vegetables are immersed in a vinegar and spice solution

Fermentation: vegetables are soaked in a spiced brine solution. Sugar is sometimes added. Kimchi, a Korean food staple, is the ultimate fermented food

Chutney: chopped fruit and veg are cooked with vinegar, spice and herbs, to produce a sweet-sour mixture with a chunky texture

Brining: cuts of meat are steeped in salt water

Salting: meat and fish are coated with salt to draw out moisture and kill bacteria

Seasonal pickling

Spring: rhubarb, cabbage, cauliflower, citrus fruit, asparagus

Summer: raspberries, plums, beetroot, asparagus, baby carrots, cucumbers, runner beans, apricots, courgettes, tomatoes, peaches

Autumn: apples, damsons, garlic, quince, blackberries, red cabbage, tomatoes, fennel, peppers

Winter: apples, cabbage, quince, citrus fruit

From How to Pickle by Gerard Baker for Lakeland

More from the October issue:

 

More jam recipes:

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Recipe: Raspberry vinegar

From Fern Verrow: Recipes from a Biodynamic Farm by Jane Scotter and Harry Astley. 

Raspberry vinegar

Makes 6 x 250ml bottles

1kg berries
600ml cider vinegar
granulated sugar

Always use the freshest fruit you can get hold of, but remember it doesn’t matter what the fruit looks like, as you’re going to mash it up for its juice. It is important that the fruit is dry, especially if you are using strawberries and raspberries, so try not to wash it. You can also use a mixture of elderberries and wild blackberries for a foraged, more savoury vinegar.

1 Put the berries into a large ceramic or glass bowl. Add the vinegar and gently crush the fruit with a potato masher or a large fork. Cover tightly and leave in a cool room for at least 5 days, stirring once each day.

2 Line a sieve with a piece of sterilised muslin, set it over a bowl and pour the fruit and vinegar into it. Tie the corners of the muslin together and suspend the bag over the bowl for 12 hours for the juice to drip through.

3 Measure the juice and allow 450g sugar for every 500ml. Put the juice and sugar into a large stainless steel saucepan, place over a low heat and slowly bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Boil for 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool. Pour into sterilised bottles and seal straightaway. It should keep for at least a year. 

Read more:

From the October issue

Preserving recipes

Fruit recipes