Henry Harris: Lemon Icebox Pudding (and derivatives)

6-8

Extracted from The Racine Effect by Henry Harris (Quadrille, RRP £40) Photography © Sam Nolan

Mum still serves this for her lunch or dinner parties as she can make it days in advance and so remove a level of stress or more complications on the day. She serves this lemon icebox pudding with a raspberry coulis spiked with a dash of brandy or eau-de-vie. She also does an orange version, for which you substitute the lemon ingredients with orange equivalents. In place of the coulis, she makes an orange salad in caramel, which you can do a day or two before. She also says that you can make it with coffee, using ristretto coffee instead of the lemon juice and no zest. For this, you can make a praline base instead of a biscuit one. And, furthermore, you can also make it with stem ginger, which you can serve with what her brother John always called ‘Black Country custard’ aka advocaat.

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French
, Desserts

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Method

Grease a 900 g (2 lb) loaf tin and then line it with a double layer of cling film.

Put the biscuits into a plastic bag and then use a rolling pin to bash them to crumbs. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the melted butter. Press half the mixture into the bottom of the loaf tin, reserving the other half for top.

Place the egg yolks in a warmed bowl (Mum pours boiling water in and leaves it to stand for 1–2 minutes, then tips it out and dries it). Add the sugar and whisk to a pale sabayon, then beat in the lemon juice.

In a separate cold bowl, whisk the cream with the lemon zest until soft peaks form. Fold the cream into the sabayon.

In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until properly stiff, then fold a spoonful of the egg white into the sabayon mixture to loosen the mixture before folding in the rest.

Pour the mixture into the loaf tin, then place the tin, uncovered, in the freezer and leave for 1 hour to set a little.

Remove the tin from the freezer and cover the top with the remaining biscuit mixture, then fold over the excess cling film and cover the tin with a stout double-layer of foil. Place back in the freezer to freeze.

When you are serving the main course, remove the tin from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to give it time to temper. Mum says if you are planning a long cheese course after the main course, wait until you have cleared the mains before putting this step into action.

To serve, turn out the pudding onto a board and slice it with a knife that you have run under the hot tap.