Lemon Verbena curd by Henrietta Inman

What you need

• 155g soft, unsalted butter
• 60g crème fraiche
• 120g lemon juice
• 70g golden caster sugar
• 70g honey
• 1 lemon, zest finely grated
• 4g Good & Proper Lemon Verbena
• 2 egg yolks
• 3 large eggs

 Method

• Take the butter out of the fridge to soften.

•  In a medium saucepan, warm the crème fraiche,
  lemon juice, sugar and honey. You want the mix to just simmer to dissolve the sugar and honey.

•  Turn off the heat, stir in the lemon zest and lemon verbena leaves, cover with a lid
  or cling film and leave to infuse for 1 hour.

• Strain the infused mix through a fine sieve, really pushing it through to get all the flavour from the Lemon Verbena.

• Place it back on the heat and bring to a boil.

• In a medium bowl, mix together the egg yolks and whole eggs.

• Pour over the hot lemon verbena and lemon syrup and mix to combine.

• Transfer the mix back to the saucepan and cook like a custard on a low heat, starting with a whisk and then moving to a wooden spoon or heat-proof spatula.

• When it starts to thicken and your finger makes a line through the mix when coated on the back of a wooden spoon, it is ready.

• If you have a thermometer, you want to heat it to 82oC.

• Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl, leave to cool to body temperature, or around 40oC, and then blitz in the softened butter with a hand-held blender till smooth.

• Cover to the surface with cling film and leave in the fridge.

Serving suggestion

• Fresh figs
• Greek yoghurt
• The London Honey Co. Honeycomb
• Good & Proper Tea homemade sourdough crumpets

• To assemble, slightly warm the crumpet to soften it - not too hot though or else the curd will run off the crumpet.
• Place a few good heaped tablespoons of curd in the centre of the crumpet and top with a generous spoonful of yoghurt.
• Top the yoghurt with two fig halves from one large fig, a good chunk of honeycomb and an extra bit of runny honey to drizzle.
• Serve and enjoy immediately.