MARCH

Hello!

March!! I can hardly believe it. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that the sudden appearance of Spring is making me feel instantly more positive - it makes me excited for longer days, warmer weather and above all else, beers in the park with friends (soon!)
This year, Saturday the 20th officially marks the beginning of Spring. With lemons coming into season, make some curd. Eating it is guaranteed to lift any mood. Lots of lovely greens are also in season, find the recipe for a perfect Spring soup below. March also means the appearance of wild garlic so keep your eyes peeled when out and about..

A good playlist for the month - or the rest of the year, it’s a long one.

Big love, Emma x

Lemon Curd

This beautifully tart citrus curd is the perfect filling for cakes and tarts or quite simply, spread generously on toast. One of my favourite ways to eat it, has to be spooned on top of greek yoghurt with a handful of blueberries and a scattering of mint leaves. A fresh pudding - or alternatively an indulgent breakfast. Find the full recipe here.

Makes around 3-4 small jars

Ingredients:
6 lemons (the juice of 6 and the zest of 4)
125g unsalted butter, cubed
400g granulated sugar
4-5 large eggs (strained, 200ml)

Method:

1. First, sterilise your jars by washing them in hot soapy water then placing in a low heated oven (around 100ºC) until you are ready to jar your curd.

2. Zest four of the lemons, then juice as many as you need to get 250ml of lemon juice. This is usually around 5 or 6 lemons. Add both the juice and zest to a large heatproof bowl - to this, also add the sugar and butter.

3. Place the heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, ensuring that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t come into direct contact with the water.

4. Keep on the heat, stirring occasionally until the butter has melted. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and strain them through a sieve - you want 200ml of strained eggs.

5. When the buttery-lemon mixture is completely melted, pour in the eggs, whisking vigorously as you do so.

6. Keep whisking the curd until it starts to thicken - this should take anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes (I find it usually only takes around 12) but you will feel it thickening.

7. If at any point the curd starts to look like its scrambling, remove the bowl from the pan immediately and beat off the heat until it’s returned to its smooth consistency.

8. Pour the curd into the sterilised jars and seal. It will thicken further as it cools so don’t worry if it’s looking a little thin.

Once open, keep in the fridge and consume within four weeks.

A soup to welcome Spring

This soup feels like a good one to welcome in Spring. The period of time where transition is in the air, the changing of wardrobes is matched with the changes on our plates. We ditch the heavy in favour of something slightly lighter. It uses some of the lovely greens of March - kale, spinach and leek. I used a chicken stock here but a vegetable one would also be equally as delicious. This is a soup that would work perfectly blended or left untouched and chunky.
Find the recipe here.

Here are some of my favourite Instagrams this month. Evie Harbury and Hikaru Funnell have created a series of images based on Picassso’s ceramics and they are absolutely incredible. Rosa Williams might have made the ultimate Birthday cake, who wouldn’t want a flamingo in a party hat!? I’m still stringing out my love affair with rhubarb so obviously these beautiful rhubarb and cardamom custard pastries by Beth O’Brien had to make the cut.