Sunday, 8 May 2011

Lemon Posset

What a difference a week makes! Just a little over a week ago the whole world was transfixed by the sight of Kate Middleton walking down the aisle in London.



This week she was walking down the aisle of the local supermarket, and even riding the trolley in the carpark.




Perhaps she was picking up a few lemons to make some Lemon Posset? She could certainly do worse.

I made and then ate my first ever lemon posset as part of the English Royal Celebrations around here. And it was fabulous. Lemon desserts are by far my favourite. I will generally order a lemon (or fruity) dessert in a restaurant and rarely a chocolate one. I love the lemon tarts of France.

Still, I didn't quite know what to expect. Wasn't quite sure exactly what form it would take. Posset is an interesting word, and has a number of usages. Thankfully the modern interpretation of glorious pots of creamy lemoniness is worlds away from curdled beer, or gurking babies.


Who can resist the smell of freshly zested lemons?
There are many recipes out there on the internet. Most were variations on the same theme. Lemon, sugar, cream. The major difference seemed to be the timing of adding the lemon juice. It's so fantastic to be able to see reviews of recipes too, and comments from those who have gone before. So I decided to follow this BBC recipe, where the lemon is added after the cream is cooked. It seemed to make more sense.

The British are famous for their cream, and the double cream used in the BBC recipe is said to be 48% fat. Whilst we have lovely dairy products in Australia too, when we have 48% cream it is quite solid, spooning sort of cream. And I wasn't sure how that would work. So I went with a comparatively low-fat 35% pouring cream. And it worked really well. Everyone absolutely loved these. Well the adults did. The 10 year old taster wasn't as thrilled, and pulled quite a face.
Pots of deliciousness
Using the lemon zest did add a slight textural element at times, but the flavour was so intense, and so lemony that I think it was worth it. I'll be making this again, and again.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.


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7 comments:

  1. Kath Lockett8 May 2011 at 20:47

    That looks utterly divine - I think that lemon comes a close second to chocolate in the dessert arena!

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  2. Beth F8 May 2011 at 20:54

    I'm huge lemon fan, and like you I pick lemon, fruit, or spice before I pick chocolate. I love the taste and texture of zest in my dishes. I will definitely have to try this. I wonder if I can get proper cream in the US.

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  3. Carol @ There's Always Thyme to Cook8 May 2011 at 22:36

    Lemon is a huge favorite in my house, this would go over so well! Looks fantastic.

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  4. TheBookGirl9 May 2011 at 05:21

    Count me in as another big fan of lemon; my favorite dessert flavor, and my favorite flavor of yogurt :)

    I think it's interesting that there are so many recipe variations for something that only has a few ingredients.

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  5. annies home9 May 2011 at 09:04

    sounds like it was meant for royality i love the new princess so down to earth come see me at http://shopannies.blogspot.com

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  6. Margot11 May 2011 at 16:08

    This looks like an excellent use of my excess pile of lemons. I'm glad you said something about the percentage of the cream as I probably wouldn't have paid attention. I let you know how mine goes.

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  7. Louise12 May 2011 at 02:25

    Kath- have you ever had lemon chocolate- a few of the great chocolate makers can actually pull it off. Jean Paul Hevin in Paris for one. And I had a smoked lemon which I don't think was from him that was divine.

    Beth it's amazing how many women prefer the fruit, lemon, spicy option. My husband always picks the chocolate option, so I get to taste his- best of both worlds! I hope you try it, would love to hear about your results if you do.

    Thanks Carol, it is fantastic.

    TBG- we used to be able to get lemon yoghurt in Australia, but they stopped making it. It took me several months to stop searching the supermarket shelves for it every time I went. Am still a bit devastated actually. I loved it too. It is interesting at how many variations such a simple recipe can have.

    I thought it was perfect for our evening of royal fun shopannies

    Margot- I hope you love it as much as I did. So delicious, and so simple!

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