When Life Gives You Lemons...

...make Lemon Curd!

I made an angel food cake from scratch last night. Now I have a dozen yolks to do something with. Lemon curd seems the perfect solution.

Lemon Curd
Recipe courtesy Mary Maher

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Directions
Combine 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of butter, 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of sugar, and the lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to boil over medium heat.
Blend egg yolks with remaining sugar in a medium bowl, using a whisk. Temper eggs by slowly adding 1/3 of the boiling mixture to the eggs, stirring constantly. Return egg mixture to saucepan, over low heat, and stir the mixture until it boils. Whisk in the lemon zest and remaining butter and remove from the heat.

I call BS on Sandra Lee having the slllllightest interest in helping people save time. In this video, wherein she makes a "Spring Picnic," she makes some salmon and cucumber sandwiches. I have say that these don't even sound bad, but this "time saving" recipe has you mix up a sandwich filling, then apply it to the inside of a sandwich with a star tip. WTF?? No one in a time crunch will bother, they will simply trowel the filling on the bread.

But wait! There's more!

She tops the slice and filling with cucumbers and a second piece of bread.Then, she uses a cookie cutter to cut the thing into a flower shape. And yes, She must -- must, I tell you -- use the star tip to dot little flowers with more pink filling. Doesn't everyone want to eat a sandwich that looks like a cookie but tastes like salmon and capers?

I ask again: Why is this woman on television?



This is how I would rework this sandwich:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 oz pepper smoked salmon, flaked
1 Tbs capers, finely chopped
1\2 cucumber, thinly sliced
4 green onions, thinly chopped, or snipped chives
bread of your choice

Combine cream cheese, capers, salmon and green onions. Spread on 1 piece of bread. Top with cucumber slices, then with a second piece of bread.

Do not bring pastry tips, star or otherwise, anywhere the prep area. Remove the crusts if you feel like being fancy.