Three more days and it’s gone, the summer is officially
over. It’s 6 and something pm and I need to recall summer holiday in a second
as the temperature outside is dropping so quickly. A cold wind is blowing, the
doors are slamming and it seems like it is trying to blow all the summer memories away.
Not so long ago, I was hiding in the shade, listening the sound of silence under
the sea and had a feeling that everything is simple and easy like summer itself.
There are three lemons on my kitchen table. Two are a bit
bigger than this one, shiny small one, which hides behind two limes. Yellowish
color reminds me of the summer heat. Some say, when you have lemons make
lemonade, but today I choose to make lemon pudding. I got out of the sofa and
turned on the oven to 180o Celsius.
What I need is an instant reminder and warmth at the same
time. I imagined that pretty soon I would be eating summer in the form of many squares
or from the bowl, with the spoon. I would be literary grabbing last parts of
it. It should be fluffy, cloudy, slightly hot from the inside and a bit cold,
like breeze from the outside.
Lemon pudding
3 eggs, separated
5 tbsp caster sugar, plus extra 2 tbsp
125ml milk
125ml heavy cream
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
2 tbsp cornstarch, sifted
3 tbsp flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Icing sugar and whipped cream, to serve
Beat the egg yolks and caster sugar until thick and pale.
Beat in the milk, heavy cream, lemon zest and juice, then fold in the
cornstarch, flour and baking powder. Separately whisk the egg whites until firm
and add the cream of tartar and those 2 extra tbsp of caster sugar and whisk
again. First fold only one-third of the meringue into the batter to loosen,
then fold in the rest and combine carefully to keep the air. Pour into oven
dish and bake for 30-35 minutes until slightly golden on top. Once cooled, dust
with icing sugar and serve with whipped cream.
It turned out pretty yellowish, refreshing but not so
fluffy and puffy.
The summer is really gone and all I can do now is to ‘hang
it’ on the wall and eat this sunny, hot lemon pudding.
