My Secret Weapon

Before I get started, lets talk a little bit. Exchange some pleasantries and a little small talk. What's going on? How are you doing these days? Me? I'm chillin' like a villain. Oh yeah, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I hope all of you got to enjoy the start of 2012 the way you wanted to. I know I did. I can honestly say that 2011 was one of the more difficult years of my life. I'm glad it's all in the past and I'm looking forward to making the new year a good one. I've got a lot of ideas for this little blog and have been getting good feedback on it. I hope to keep posting good food and reviews, and to keep you guys and gals checking back in.

As much as I like writing for this, I have to be in the mood to do it. For those of you that know me well, I'm all about moods and vibes. I like nice environments. That's why after working a morning shift at work, I'll stop by a Starbucks and hang out for a little bit. It's not an everyday thing, but it usually helps me calm down after a hard day in the kitchen.

Earlier today I was at my favorite Starbucks. I was feeling a bit energetic, so I put on my rock playlist on my phone and set the mood. Lots of Slipknot, Mastodon, Tool, Queens of the Stone Age and anything else to get the blood flowing. Between the music and the caffeine, I walked out of there ready to start a fight or two. Maybe even mug someone, if I had the time. But instead of committing crimes, I went home to be with family and watch a little football.

What I made for this post (Which I will be getting to very soon) I made last week. I've been dragging my feet on this because work has been kicking my ass all week and haven't been up to sitting in front of the computer for more than a few minutes. But today, I'm feeling good and know it's time to share this. So, to get this going, I had to shut off the TV, get some Ritz crackers to snack on, turn on Pandora on my phone and set it to the bossa nova station, and strip down to my undies to comfortable. I know, you probably didn't NEED the last visual. But I'm guessing that you WANTED it, right??? ;)

Ok, enough of the small talk. At least for right now. What is this so-called "Secret Weapon"? What is that pudding looking stuff in the picture above? It's........

Lemon Posset!!!


I already know what you are thinking. "What the fuck is lemon posset?" I'm not gonna tell you the entire history of this dish, that's what google is for. But I will tell you that it is an English dessert that started off as a drink. Over time, it went from drink to dessert. Normally it is served in something like a tea cup.

Why do I call it my secret weapon? For a number of reasons.I've never gotten a bad comment about it. Most people can't figure out how I made it and are usually way off when they guess what ingredients are in it. That last point is where the beauty and strength are in this dish. It only takes three ingredients to make this dish. That's right, THREE INGREDIENTS!! That's it! Heavy cream, lemon juice and sugar. Nothing more.

Before we get down to business, I need to give a little background on the recipe and technique I used for the dish. Why? Because how I made it strays a bit from the original recipe I found. I don't want you to google the recipe and be like "I found other recipes that didn't say anything about doing that!!!". Let me explain...

I got the recipe from a book called Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts by Claire Clark. She is the pastry chef at the The French Laundry. The recipe called for double cream. I used heavy cream, and when I made it just as she said, it came out like shit. I adjusted how to make it with heavy cream, and it came out better. Just way too sweet. So, I cut back on the sugar. Now I have it where I want it.

The recipe I'm gonna give you is MY altered version. The technique is MY way of doing it. If you feel you need to try her way, go for it. But, you need the double cream, which is very tough to find. Try it like I do it, and you shouldn't have any problems. Trust me on this one.

Now, finally, the food. I decided to make another dessert using the lemon posset. So, I'm gonna give the recipe first, then go in order of what I made.

Lemon Posset


16oz           Heavy Cream
7oz             Sugar
                   The juice from 4 lemons*

*If you don't have the lemons, use about 5-6 ounces of the bottled stuff. I recommend juicing the fresh lemons.

You will need 2 small pots. In pot 1, add your heavy cream. In pot 2, add your lemon juice and sugar. Turn both on to high. Stir pot 2 a bit to help the sugar dissolve. When the sugar dissolves in pot 2 and starts to bubble, you can turn the heat off. This will probably happen before pot 1 gets hot. When pot 1 gets hot and starts to bubble slightly, turn the heat down to medium. While stirring, slowly pour in the mixture of pot 2.

From here, continue stirring for about 10-12 minutes until you see that the mix has reduced some and began to thicken some. It's not going to get super thick, but you will feel it as you are stirring. If it seems like it is going to boil over, turn the heat down. It should look like a soft boil when you stop stirring.

When you hit your time or see that it has reduced some, pour the mix into a glass or bowl and place in the fridge without a top for a couple hours to let it set. Once it has cooled a little, you can cover it.

The main part I changed is the stirring. The original recipe just says heat, mix, and pour. No reducing. I did it like that, and it never set. But you don't have to reduce it to nothing. Reduce heavy cream too far and it will break.

The top picture is the finished product. Most of the time I would garnish that with a mint leaf. But I forgot to buy the mint. Oh well. Here is what I did with the lemon posset.

I made tarts! Pie crust on the bottom, posset in the middle, blueberry pie filling on top with a spot of whipped cream. Giggity.

First up, the pie crust. I just laid out 1 store bought pie crust roll and cut circles out of it. I sprayed a muffin tin with non-stick spray and put the circles in the bottom. I poked some holes in the dough to keep it from rising and baked until golden brown.  With the shells done, I made the lemon posset and filled the pie shells.

After filling the pie shells, I placed them in the freezer to set. Now it was time to make the pie filling. I slapped the filling together, so no exact recipe on that on. I used frozen blueberries because the fresh were too expensive. I used about 6oz of berries, roughly half a cup of sugar, maybe a teaspoon of lemon juice, and enough water to cover the berries. I let it simmer for about 10 minutes or so. Took a taste to check flavor, and I liked it. To thicken it, I made a cornstarch slurry, brought the heat up and stirred in the slurry until it got nice and thick. I let that cool a few minutes before topping the posset.

After that, all you gotta do is add some whipped cream and you are good to go!

Lemon and blueberry are two of my favorite flavors, To combine them in one dish felt great. Really, this would be great in the summer. Not much of a fall dish, but still very tasty.

I took a couple to work to have some friends try it out. Here is one of them.

That's Sammy. Sammy rocks. And what did Sammy think of the tart? If I'm nice, hopefully she will post a comment about what she thought of it. I'd rather she tell you herself than me saying "She took one bite, then asked if she could have my children.".

Well, that's it for this one my friends. This was one was kinda lengthy, huh? Well, that's how it goes sometimes. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your time here and plan on coming back soon

Take Care,

J. Miller