Latte alla portoghese

Preheat your oven to 160°C. Prepare a deep baking dish for a bain-marie.

For the caramel, combine 150g granulated sugar and 30g water in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook without stirring, gently swirling the pan occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and turns into a rich amber caramel. Immediately pour the hot caramel into the bottom of six individual ramekins, swirling to coat the bottom evenly.

For the custard, pour 500g whole milk into a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds; add both the pod and seeds to the milk. Add the lemon zest from one organic lemon. Gently heat the whole milk mixture over medium heat until it just begins to simmer. Remove from heat, cover, and let infuse for 10 minutes. Strain the infused whole milk through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the vanilla bean and lemon zest, then set aside to cool slightly.