Posset An Easy Summer Dessert

Summer is a time of easy cooking  - whether it's for the main course or dessert. No one wants to be by a hot oven when the temps hit the nineties. That's why there is posset - a lovely Shakespearean sounding custard that is easy to make. Best of all it compliments the fruit of the season.

Melissa Clark wrote about it in her  A Good Appetite column in yesterday's New York Times Food section.Posset is a simple custard, first made in the 1500's with spiced, sweetened milk. Wine or ale was added to curdle it was used to cure colds. Posset then evolved from a beverage to custard with the ingredients altered.This is a simple dessert for novice home chefs. As Ms. Clark points out it's a custard  but without the eggs, or other binders such as gelatin or cornstarch. There are not even any messy water baths as they are with creme brules. Even the oven doesn't have to be used - perfect for a hot day.It's all made on the stove top, then strained and poured into ramekins. The recipe comes from Diana Henry's Simple, a cookbook full of unfussy ,uncomplicated recipes.Ms. Henry adds a sprig of  rosemary and orange juice. Possets are topped with fruit, namely macerated strawberries but any fruit can do.

Possets start out with just two cups of heavy cream. Don't skimp or substitute. The cream gives it its' weight and is the posset's backbone. The next is 2/3 cup of granulated sugar. What gives the dessert zing is the grated lemon zest and lemon juice. Ms. Clark feels that adding the zest heightens the lemon flavor. Before adding a 1/3 cup of lemon juice she cooks the  zest,cream and sugar for a few minutes. Doing this ensures a plush pudding instead of curdling when the acid hits it. Also add a pinch of sea salt for balance. The mixture should be constantly stirred and then simmered until it thickens. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice. It's then letting the posset sit  for twenty minutes to let it slightly cool.. A skin should form. Stir mixture and then strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove the zest (I would leave it in for color) as it's strained into a measuring cup with a spout. Evenly pour into six ramekins or small bowls and put into fridge to set for three hours. At this point toss the strawberries and sugar in a small mixing bowl. Let it macerate at room temp for 30 minutes to one hour. Arrange them on top of the possets. Dust with ground pepper and serve.

Posset is a simple easy dessert.It's the perfect end to a summer meal. Try with fresh fruits and enjoy.

Reinventing BritIsh Cuisine

It was only a mere quarter century ago that British food got sneered and ridiculed.Then something amazing happened.Homegrown chefs started to make the cuisine interesting.Gone was the green goop known as mushy peas and oil soaked logs known as fish and chips.Britain introduced the world to farm to table along with a return to artesanal foods made without preservatives and chemicals. This , along with two new British authored cookbooks, was the center of Melissa Clark's A Good Appetite on Wedmesday.She reviewed and recommended two chefs' books.Yottam Ottolenghi just released Plenty More(Ten Speed Publishers) is about English cooking as well as Caribbean ,Indian Japanese and Thai cooking.His recipe for scrambled eggs is an eye opener.It is zinged with cumin and Chiles, along with tomatoes.He also has an exotic and bracing salad of three ingredients not always thrown together.Broccoli shares a bowl with edamame and coconut spiced with curry leaves, mustard and lime.I can see this as a side to roast or barbecue pork or chicken.Another plus about Chef Ottolenghi's cookbooks is that it is vegan(although it's not marketed as such).He has a following, thanks to his other books on Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking.This book is bound to have another set of groupies. The other chef, Diana Henry, has a more traditional cookbook.Hers is A Change Of Appetite (Mitchell Press)which features more down to earth recipes.While Chef Ottolenghi's recipes are for impressing the dinner or brunch crowd. Chef Henry's is more for a cozy Sunday afternoon supper.Hers is more farm to table with fish ,seasonal vegetables along with whole grains.There is a touch of the exotic ,with some of the recipes having Harissa and borage along with dried limes and togarashi peppers.Her recipes celebrate her loves, fresh unprocessed seasonal foods.Ms. Clark enthusiastically tries and loves Chef's Henry's butterflied leg of lamb with Persian mint syrup along with garlic crab and fragrant lentos.Her eggs are spiced, semi hard with a warm runny center.Her cake recipes are made with the healthy spelt flour and juicy cherries.This is a great book for the holidays, the perfect gift for any home chef interested in the farm to table cuisine. British cooking is leading the world in culinary innovation.Thanks to these chefs, Chef Ottolenghi and Chef Henry, kitchens are producing not only exciting fare but healthy too.It's a brand new spin on a cuisine ,once maligned and now loved.