Roasted strawberries with lime & labneh
a(nother) pudding for non-pudding people
As noted at least once before, I am not a pudding person. In the making, or even really the eating.
Once the platters have been passed around for the final time, the last pieces of bread have been dragged through the plates’ saucy remains, and cutlery has been clattered into the sink, what follows in my kitchen rarely constitutes a “proper pudding”. More often than not, I cut up fruit, tear open the foils of a few chocolate bars, and that is that.
However, there is a limited selection of things I make when I have the inclination to do a little more. They are puddings for non-pudding people. They are always fruity, featuring whatever happens to be at its best at the time: wine-poached pears in late autumn; dressed citrus in winter; this date whip in the tricky March/April window when seasonal produce is scarce; stone fruit with sesame halva during the warmest weeks; poached plums with brown butter oats when the leaves begin to fall again.
Right now, it’s strawberry time. So my seasonal suggestion for those of you who may also identify as a non-pudding person is this: roasted strawberries with lime and labneh.
If you haven’t roasted strawberries before, you’re in for a treat. It’s a transformative process, resulting in fruit that tastes quite radically different from its fresh counterpart: intensely perfumed; jammy; and, when coupled with lots of lime, distinctly sherbet-y.
As a pudding, this feels just right for June. And just right for a non-pudding person.
Roasted strawberries with lime and labneh
