Summer pudding

Before moving to the UK, I’d never eaten summer pudding. I was dead impressed the first time my mother-in-law served one up for dessert.

As she’s a very accomplished cook, I assumed summer puddings required patisserie skills I’d never possess. Turns out she’s a canny cook as well – and summer pudding couldn’t be easier to make.

While the classic summer pudding is filled with a mixture of red currants and raspberries, red currants can be hard to come by. I’ve gone for a mixture of raspberries, red currants, blackberries and blueberries.

Our supermarket sells packages of frozen mixed summer berries, which work well here.

Summer pudding

• a loaf of good quality white bread900g mixed berries: raspberries, red currants, blackberries, blueberries
• 2-3 Tb sugar
• 2 Tb water
• double cream, to serve (optional)

1. Cut several 1cm thick slices of bread, and remove the crusts.
2. Line a 1-litre pudding basin (or steep-sided bowl) with the bread. First, cut a circle of bread from one slice, and place in in the bottom of the bowl.
3. Cut each of the remaining slices into three fingers, and use these to line the sides of the bowl, arranging them snugly so no fruit can escape.
4. Rinse the berries, then place in a pot over a medium-low heat. Add the sugar and water, and bring to a simmer.
5. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring as little as possible, until the berries have given up a generous amount of juice but are still intact.
6. Pour the fruit and syrup into the bread-lined bowl, filling it nearly to the top. Reserve any remaining syrup to serve with the pudding (and to touch up any pale patches). Cover the fruit with bread.
7. Place the pudding in a larger bowl, to catch any juice that might escape. Cover the basin with a small plate, and put a weight (like a heavy tin) on the plate. Refrigerate overnight.
8. To remove the pudding, remove the plate and carefully slide a knife between the bread and the bowl. Invert a serving plate over top the bowl, then quickly turn the pudding over and remove the bowl. The pudding should slide out intact.
9. Serve with double cream.

Family score: 8 out of 10

Tags: blackberries, blueberries, bread, British food, dairy-free, pudding, raspberries, red currants, vegan, vegetarian