Lime Aid

There are just two of us for dinner these days, and the lime tree hasn’t adjusted for reduced demand.

Or, in other words, we’re inundated with limes.

My repertoire of lime recipes is thin: after I squeeze one over my breakfast of shredded apple, use them in tangelo marmalade, and put a slice in my water bottle, I’m out of ideas.

With a bit of adaptation from a lemon recipe, however, lime ice cream debuted last night.

Lime Ice Cream

Print Recipe

Servings 2

Ingredients

1 tsp finely grated lime zest
1/4 c. lime juice about 1 lime
1/3 c. sugar
1 egg
2/3 c. half and half
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

In a small sauce pan, beat the egg well and add zest, juice, sugar and 1/3 c. half and half. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly. Remove from heat, strain, and refrigerate until cold. Add the remaining half and half and freeze in ice cream maker,

Notes

This made two nice servings of ice cream. Variations might include swapping almond extract for vanilla, or milk or plain yogurt for half and half.

Keyword lime

Curd, without the whey

I’ve avoided making lemon curd for years, given the sense that between egg yolks and butter, it couldn’t be healthy.

But I found a recipe, which when coupled with a rising tide of limes, I was willing to try. It helped that the author of the recipe conceded that you could use whole eggs, rather than create a heap of orphan egg whites.

Good move.

I tinkered with the recipe thus:

Lime Curd

Print Recipe

Servings 6

Ingredients

5 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. lime zest
1/2 c. lime juice
1/8 t. salt
4 T. butter

Instructions

In the top of a double boiler, combine eggs, sugar, zest, juice and salt.
Heat the curd in the double boiler, over medium low heat, whisking constantly, until thick.
Remove from heat and add butter, cut in pieces, stirring until melted.
Let cool til it can go in fridge to chill. Keeps for up to a week.

Notes

Two Persian limes produced a bit more than an half cup of juice. I used the zest from those two limes, which was a bit more than called for. No one complained.

This is really a strawberry recipe, with lime custard sauce. It fits here.

Strawberries with Lime Custard Sauce

Print Recipe

Ingredients

3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup light cream scalded
1 peel of lime
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 cups strawberries
1/3 c. lime juice
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions

Scald the light cream with the lime peel.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until light and lemon colored. Stir in the scalded cream.
Transfer to a saucepan and cook, stirring, over medium heat until it's thick and coats the spoon.
Strain into another bowl, discarding the lime peel. Cool covered with buttered wax paper.
Whip the heavy cream and fold whipped cream into custard mixture.
Quarter 3 cups of strawberries and dress with 1/3 c. lime juice and powdered sugar.
Serve topped with custard sauce.