lime curd, filo pastry, vanilla salt... (or how a tiny portion of lime curd found meaning in its brief, glorious existence)

I whipped up this dessert a few months ago on the fly, one late weekend afternoon, and since then I had been sitting on this post in draft for ages. The combination of lime curd, filo pastry and vanilla salt was absolutely divine, but I put everything together quite carelessly - the presentation was shoddy and I only took a couple of photographs, both of which could've been better. I'm now moving past those quibbles. It tasted fabulous, after all.

This recipe came about as I had one lonely egg yolk in the fridge. I was at the beginning of a curd-crazy phase so it was a no-brainer. That egg yolk was to find a new home in a tangy lime curd. And then, and then - the lime curd found a lovely new home on a bed of filo pastry, and found itself bejewelled with little gems of vanilla salt... and found meaning in its brief, glorious existence.

lime curd spread on toasted olive oil filo pastry, sprinkled with tahitian vanilla salt.

a tiny, tiny serving of lime curd

1 egg yolk
1.5 - 2 tablespoons sugar, depending on how sweet you like it
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 teaspoon lime zest (optional)
1/2 tablespoon butter

Prepare a saucepan with about 3 - 4 centimetres (1.5 inches) water. Bring it to boil, then lower the heat to a gentler boil.
Whisk egg yolks, sugar, lime juice and zest (if using) together in a bowl until well combined. This bowl should be of a good size for fitting on top the saucepan so that it just hovers above the water.
Place the bowl on top of the simmering water. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens. Add butter and continue stirring and cooking until the butter is completely melted and becomes one with the mixture.
You'll know the curd is ready when it is thick enough to coat a spoon dipped into the mixture. Also remember that the curd will continue to thicken as it cools down.

After making the curd, I riffled through the freezer and found some frozen filo pastry (aka phyllo pastry). I broke off a few rectangular sections, brushed them lightly on both sides with olive oil, stacked them on top of each other and baked them in a moderately hot oven for several minutes till crisp and golden. The lime curd went on top of that. I then scoured the pantry and found some Tahitian vanilla salt that was just begging to be used, so those beguiling little crystals were scattered over. The vanilla salt was an impulse purchase at a shop, but you can easily make your own by mixing half a cup of salt with the seeds from a vanilla bean and storing it in a jar. Otherwise, some good quality salt will be nearly as good. Enjoy!