Food & Drink
A little taste of home - Summer Pudding
BY DAVID E BURKE
Nothing quite says summer like Summer Pudding. Except sandals, sun cream, ice creams, cargo shorts, sunglasses... Okay, lots of other things do. But few desserts can match Summer Pudding for packing so many sumptuous summer flavours into one delicious dessert. It’s been around a long time too. This traditional British dessert was very popular in the late 19th century and we have found recipes dating from as far back as 1886. They say that it is best made with 7 day old dry bread as this helps the fruit juices soak through the bread better. Fruits used typically include raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants & blackberries.
Image by Marks & Spencer
Summer Pudding:
Ingredients (Serves family of 4)
8 slices of dry, medium-sliced white bread, crusts removed
200g (7oz) strawberries
200g (7oz) redcurrants
200g (7oz) blackcurrants
150g (5oz) caster sugar
200g (7oz) raspberries
2 tbsp blackcurrant syrup - or liquor (optional)
Method:
First prepare t he fruit by removing any stalks or leaves. Wash the fruit and gently dry it on kitchen paper but keep strawberries separate. Next, line a 1.25-litre bowl with cling film. Put the sugar and 3 tbsp water into a large pan and gently heat it until the sugar dissolves stirring occasionally. Bring this to the boil for a minute or so and then add all the fruit but not the strawberries. Cook this on a low heat, again stirring occasionally, until the fruit is softened but mostly intact and you can see it is surrounded by dark red juice. Put 1 slice of bread in the bottom of a pudding bowl, cutting the bread to fit as necessary, using 5 of the slices to line the sides. Make sure they butt-up and fit together nicely. You should press them firmly into place, overlap them slightly and you can use some of the juice to dip the edges in to help them to fit. Now, remove the pan from the heat and add the strawberries and syrup or liqueur. Spoon the fruit and half of the juice into the bread-lined bowl, keeping back the rest of the juice. Then cover everything on top with the 2 remaining slices of bread. Stand the bowl in a shallow dish in case any juices overflow, then put a saucer upside down on top of the bread ‘lid’ slices. You can put something like a light kitchen weight or book on top of this to help keep it sealed. Then simply leave to chill in the fridge for 6 to 8 hours.
To Serve:
Remove from the fridge. Carefully tip the pudding upside down onto a flat serving dish. The easiest way is to remove the saucer from the top and place the dish over it instead. Hold that in place and then tip the whole thing over and sit it on a worktop. Carefully lift off the bowl – the cling film should make this quite easy, then spoon the reserved juices from the fruit over the top. Slice and serve with with dollops of fresh cream - or crème fraîche, mascarponi, vanilla ice cream or your favourite non-dairy substitutes. Scrummy Summer on a plate!
Gluten Free? GF Sliced bread will work fine as long as it is dry.
Vegan? As always check the ingredients and use non-dairy products.
Lactose Free? Any Lactose-free cream / ice cream is fine.