Old Fashioned Lemon Pudding

I admit I ate leftover gumbo last night for dinner. I mean with the gorgeous tasting stuff in the fridge and the big guy away, who wouldn't, so rather than repeat myself and tell you how absolutely incredibly delicious it is I'll tell you about a lemon pudding I made earlier in the week.

This is an old fashioned kind of pudding that my Mother would have made had we enjoyed fresh lemons back in the day. They were considered quite the luxury and insanely expensive to buy in Northern Ontario, Canada where I grew up. About the closest thing we got to lemons was the plastic kind with the phony tasting concentrated "real" juice and that would taste really bad in a pudding like this one. Luckily we still have a host of Meyer lemons to use but memories of that plastic lemon shaped ball on the door of the fridge make me realize how incredibly fortunate we are to be able to pick fresh ones off the tree in our own back yard. How Mother would have loved that!

Simple and quick to make, this creamy concoction mixes sugar and cornstarch with milk, eggs, lemon zest and juice. Enriched with a pat of butter and jazzed up with limoncello it was our tart and sweet treat for the week. By the way, while it's darn tasty in a bowl, it would also be fabulous sandwiched between two layers of cake. Just sayin'!

Old Fashioned Lemon Custard Pudding (inspired by Purity Cookbook)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

pinch of salt

2-1/3 cups whole milk

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons limoncello (optional)

In a small saucepan, mix together sugar, cornstarch and salt until well blended. Slowly whisk in cold milk. Place over medium heat, and cook stirring constantly until mixture is thickened. Beat together egg and egg yolk. Carefully whisk in about half of the thickened milk mixture and blend well to temper the eggs and prevent curdling. Whisking constantly, return egg mixture to saucepan and cook whisking constantly over medium low heat until very thick (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat and add lemon zest, lemon juice and butter. Whisk until butter is melted and incorporated. Put mixture through a wire sieve into a glass bowl. Whisk in limoncello. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of pudding and refrigerate until cold. Spoon into individual bowls and garnish with whipped cream if desired. Makes 4 servings. Download Old Fashioned Lemon Custard Pudding

 

Comments

[nanan]

I am not a real big fan of pudding - but I a a sucker for lemon - I would have gobbled this down for sure! - and Jeeze - rub it in about the Gumbo already!

[June]

Lea - I'm in mourning. The gumbo's all gone...as in finished. Kaput! Told you it wouldn't last 3 days! I'm thinking about hitting the store for more supplies so I can make another pot. Darned it's good stuff!

[Mary]

This sounds so good to me. Lemon is my chocolate :-). I adore puddings like this and will put your recipe to good use. I hope you have a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

[June]

I love puddings too Mary. They truly are all about "comfort".

[Mags]

Ohhh...how envious you make me of your fresh lemons and your homemade limoncello!