Little Summer Puddings

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This recipe pre-dates my 5 Ingredients philosophy.

Little Summer Puddings

From Stonesoup

Summer pudding is a traditional English dessert that is all about bread and berries. While it may sound a bit odd to be seeking out soggy bread, trust me it’s a match made in heaven. And because it needs to be made in advance it’s the perfect thing to finish off a leisurely holiday summer dinner on the balcony.

Feel free to play around with the types of berries. Red currants are usually included but unfortunately I couldn’t get my hands on any. Pitted cherries and rhubarb would also make a lovely addition or substitution as long as you cook your rhubarb sufficiently first and increase the sugar to counter rhubarbs titillating tartness.

Serves 4
2T water
110g (1/2C) sugar
150g punnet boysenberries
150g punnet blackberries
250g small strawberries, dehulled & halved
100g punnet raspberries
8 slices good quality white bread
double cream or creme fraiche for serving

1. Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Add half the berries and cook over a medium heat stirring to squash berries until sugar has dissolved and you have some lovely berry juices. Add half of the reserved berries and stir then strain berries, reserving the juices and allow to cool.

2. Cut bread into circles to fit the base of four 1C capacity ramekins or pudding moulds. Place a slice of bread in the base of each then divide strained berries between. Spoon over reserved juice until the ramekins are almost full, pushing down to fit them in. Top each ramekin with another bread circle and spoon over more juice so that all the bread is stained.

3. Reserve some juice for serving. Cover with foil and a saucer and either stack the four ramekins on top of each other or weigh each down with a tin can. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

4. To serve, run a knife around the edge of each ramekin and then invert into a bowl, you may need to use the knife to pry the puddings out. Pour reserved berry juice around puds, or if you prefer you can use it to colour any white patches of bread (I prefer to leave some white showing for contrast). Garnish with the remaining reserved berries and serve with cream passed separately.

Note: These puds also make for a decadent holiday breakfast if served with yoghurt.