If you live in Oakland’s Redwood Heights, you must be thrilled to call Lisa Chan a neighbor. Chan is the pastry sous chef at San Francisco’s Michelin-starred State Bird Provisions, where her laminated brioche scones and creme fraiche ice cream sandwiches are legendary.
Although she returned to work part-time in September, Chan spent the bulk of the pandemic figuring out how to make ends meet — and keep baking. In the spring, she launched a cottage business, Sweet Wheezy Treats, making sourdough focaccia, spiced lemon cake, peanut butter cookies and other treats for delivery in the neighborhood.
Word spread on Nextdoor and Chan found her baked goodies selling out fast, so she launched a website, with new menus posted Wednesdays for pickup or delivery the following week. And she added more items that can be enjoyed throughout the week, like this silky Lemon Curd, which costs $5 a jar and is made with Meyer lemons from her neighbors’ trees.
“I like making curd because you can add it to so many things,” Chan says. “You can lighten it with cream. Layer it into cakes or put it on ice cream. I know people who have it right out of the jar. And it makes a lovely gift.”
Lemon Curd
Makes about 2½ cups
Ingredients
Zest of 2 Meyer lemons
1½ cups sugar
¾ cup Meyer lemon juice
5 large eggs
3 egg yolks
9 tablespoons unsalted butter
Directions
Rub sugar and zest together to release the lemon oils into the sugar.
In a heat-proof bowl, combine the sugar and zest mixture, the juice, eggs and extra yolks. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk contents continuously until thick.
Once thickened, whisk in butter, a bit at a time, until combined and silky.
Strain curd through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Nestle the bowl in an ice bath — a bowl filled with ice and water — and chill until cold, stirring occasionally.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
— Recipe courtesy of Lisa Chan, Sweet Wheezy Treats
