Given that it’s our summer food special, there was really only one recipe I could make this week — the eponymous summer pudding. This is an old recipe that has been created in kitchens for many decades.
Originally it was served in health spas in the 18th century.
Summer Pudding
This is an old recipe that has been created in kitchens for many decades.
Preparation Time
30 mins
Cooking Time
3 hours 0 mins
Total Time
3 hours 30 mins
Ingredients
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Dash of sunflower oil (for greasing)
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800g fresh mixed berries, strawberry,
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raspberry, and blackberry
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200g blackcurrants and/or red currants
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100g golden caster sugar
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Zest of an orange
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6 slices stale bread from a square loaf
Method
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Lightly grease a pudding bowl by rubbing on some oil using a piece of kitchen paper. The oil will not touch the dessert, so the flavour does not matter too much.
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Line the bowl with cling film and leave a generous amount hanging over the top. This will be used to cover the dessert and will also allow you to pull it from the bowl when finished.
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Remove any stems from the berries and currants.
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Put the berries, currants, sugar, and zest into a saucepan and warm them over a low heat.
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Allow to bubble gently until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat.
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Cut the crusts off the bread and cut five of the slices into triangles.
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Lay the bread into the pudding dish making sure there are no gaps. You may need to cut them into shapes that fit.
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Remove the bread slices once you are happy with them and soak each one in the juices from the stewed fruit and place back into the pudding bowl.
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Fill with the fruit and pack it down.
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Soak the remaining slice of bread in the juice and use it to seal the top of the pudding, trimming as necessary.
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Fold the excess cling film over the top.
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Put a side plate on top, weigh it down, and place into the fridge. I used tinned food to weigh the plate down.
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Allow to cool in the fridge for at least three hours so the juices soak into the bread.
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To serve, remove from the fridge and bring it to room temperature.
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Remove the cling film from the top and turn the pudding out onto a large plate.
Brown bread will not work for this recipe, neither will slices of bread with large holes. A dense white bread is best.
If your fruit is very ripe and sweet, you may need less sugar. Similarly, if you taste it and the currants, in particular, are very bitter, you can add a little more sugar to sweeten the recipe.
Be patient and keep the heat low when you are dissolving the sugar. You will know it is ready when there is no gritty feeling at the bottom of the saucepan and the berries should be beginning to burst. There should be a good bit of juice, which you can use to soak the bread. If the berries are not very juicy, you can add a tablespoon of orange juice towards the end of cooking.
You can use frozen berries in place of the fresh ones. Frozen berries may have less natural sugar so you may need to add a little extra sugar. There may also be extra juice which you can set aside if it does not all get soaked up by the bread. It is handy for pouring over the dessert once turned out.
Turn the pudding upside down speedily onto a large plate and shake firmly to dislodge it. If you are nervous about it coming away, you can use a butter knife to very gently pull it away from the pudding bowl before you do this. Peel the cling film off the outside of the pudding.
If your bread is patchy with white spots after you turn the dessert over, take any spare juice, spoon it over the bread and allow it to soak in.
If you have used fresh berries, you can keep the pudding in the fridge for about three days. If you used frozen berries, it is best eaten on the first day. It does not freeze in either case.
In place of berries, use stewed pears. Gently simmer two chopped, peeled pears with one chopped, peeled apple. Add the juice of two oranges and 400g of raspberries. Simmer them all with one teaspoon of vanilla extract and follow the rest of the recipe. You may need extra stewed raspberries to pour over the dessert once it has been turned out.
Adding fresh apricots to the dessert adds another layer of flavour. I like to serve this version with custard. Add four chopped, peeled apricots in place of the black and red currants. You will need about 200g of apricot. Follow the recipe but also add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the mixture after it has been simmering. If the apricots are not very juicy, you can add a tablespoon or so of freshly squeezed orange juice to the stewed fruit.
You can add the zest of two extra oranges to the mixture for added flavour as well as a tablespoon of orange liqueur such as Grand Marnier or Cointreau. It gives you extra juicy syrup to pour over your dessert at the end.
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News Source : Irish Examiner