Meyer Lemon and Rosemary Creme Brulee

We have a potted Meyer lemon tree on our back patio. We baby it all summer with plenty of water and put it in the garage in cold weather to help it survive. In return, we get a couple of burst of sweet-smelling blooms over several months..and a crop of thin-skinned and wonderfully sweet lemons. Not many...this year only about twelve...but I hoard them until I figure out what to do with them.

This year, I gathered several recipes in a folder. Homemade limoncello which I made as Christmas gifts and a really yummy lemon confit. But the creme de la creme was to be a sour cream pound cake with streusel topping. A la Martha Stewart, it called for two layers of thinly sliced Meyer lemons for extra punch. As I made it, I worried that it was one of those "more trouble than it's worth" recipes. I was right. It had all the ingredients to make it one of my favorites. But it just fell flat somehow (not literally...just taste-wise). Definitely NOT bloggable.

This recipe is a very nice consolation prize though. Luckily, even after the cake failure, I had enough lemon left for the rind needed. The rosemary adds a wonderful herbal undercurrent to keep things from getting too sweet. (And, of course, if you don't have or can't find Meyer lemons, regular lemons work just fine.)

Meyer Lemon and Rosemary Creme Brulee
From Cooking Light.
Makes four servings.

1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup evaporated fat-free milk
1 tablespoon grated Meyer lemon rind
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Heat mixture over medium heat to 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge (do not boil), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Cover and steep 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325°.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks, and eggs in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Strain milk mixture through a sieve into egg mixture, stirring well with a whisk. Stir in vanilla. Return mixture to pan. Cook over medium-low heat 5 minutes or until mixture coats a spoon.
Divide the mixture evenly among 4 (6-ounce) ramekins. Place ramekins in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; add hot water to pan to a depth of 1 inch.

Bake at 325° for 30 minutes or until center barely moves when ramekin is touched. Remove ramekins from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 1 hour or overnight.
Sift 2 tablespoons sugar evenly over custards. Holding a kitchen blowtorch (We pull out the industrial strength home version.) about 2 inches from the top of each custard, heat the sugar, moving the torch back and forth, until sugar is completely melted and caramelized (for about 1 minute). Serve immediately.