CITRUS PASSIONFRUIT CURD

A quote from natural historian Sir David Attenborough, undoubtedly my biggest hero: "The one thing everyone can do to help save the planet is to avoid waste; don't waste electricity; plastics; time or food." I'll add water to that list and specifically in this case: egg yolks! Last Saturday night, I prepared one of my now famous (in Kuching, Sydney, Ottawa and St Leonards-on-Sea anyway) Pavlovas .

In case you don't know what a Pavlova is, this is a delectable layering of meringue, fresh cream and macerated fruit, especially berries. Some people used grated chocolate, sliced toasted almonds or anything else that takes their fancy. But, to make the meringue, you only use the egg whites.

So what to do with leftover egg yolks?

Sir David Attenborough would have been proud of me. I rescued the egg yolks and turned them into this delicious citrus and passionfruit curd. I also rescued half an ageing orange and lemon, a manky tangerine and a wrinkled-up passionfruit, their use-by dates very near, all sadly languishing in our fruit bowl. Or... you could just forget about the pavlova and make a batch of this stuff using whole eggs and any citrus fruit you have laying around.. That also works!

How to use this?

Slather your breakfast toast with it; serve as a dessert with some fabulous ice cream or add an extra layer and burst of flavour to your pavlova like I did. I really hope Sir David A. is reading this.

INGREDIENTS

zest and juice of half an orange

zest and juice of half a lemon

pulp from 1 or 2 passionfruits

zest and juice from 1 tangerine

2 heaped tbsp caster sugar (or more if you like it really sweet)

100 g unsalted butter, cubed

5 egg yolks, lightly whisked

METHOD

1. Place all your fruit in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add sugar and butter and stir continuously until butter melts and sugar dissolves.

3. Take mixture off the heat and add beaten egg yolks

4. Turn down the heat.

5. Place saucepan back on heat source and using a small whisk, whisk continually until mixture noticeably thickens. This could take anything from 5 - 10 minutes.

6. Pour into hot sterilised jar.

7. Let cool before you seal with the lid and then place in the fridge.