Mutti's lemon mousse

A super simple dessert to follow the waterlilies should you have some lemons and feel like leaning into a menu with a lemon thread.

This is not quite a recipe but more like a helpful aside shared over the garden fence, and it comes from my Mom (Mutti), who has a nose for low-on-effort, high-on-impact cooking. It’s lemon-creamy and hard to resist going back in with your spoon for more.

We once served it to finish a Friday supper with friends that started with Brandon’s Beef Carpaccio and led to Spaghetti Aglio e Olio. When it came to dessert, the fellow food editor at the table did not hesitate in reaching for seconds.

My Mom usually makes it in a big, fancy glass bowl but I do individual servings in vintage champagne coupes so the glasses give detail to the minimalist appearance. It’s also rich, so a little goes a long way.

We make it once in a while as a rare and nostalgic treat, when there are lemons to be squeezed. It’s surely one that has been circulating for years, so you may well know it.

Mix 125ml (half a cup) of freshly squeezed and strained lemon juice with one tin of condensed milk. In a separate bowl, whip 250ml (one cup) of cream to firm peaks. Fold the two together, spoon into glasses and refrigerate.