English Summer Pudding

If you’re only going to make one pudding this summer, it’s got to be a classic English summer pudding, when the soft fruits are in plentiful supply. Served with thick pouring cream, crème fraîche or clotted cream, it’s one of the best tastes of summer I know.

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Recipe adapted from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course

Method

The best way to separate the redcurrants and blackcurrants from their stalks is to hold the tip of each stalk between finger and thumb and slide it between the prongs of a fork, pushing the fork downwards and pulling off the berries as it goes.

Now rinse all the fruits and place in a large pan together with the sugar.

Cook over a medium heat for 3–5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the juices begin to run (be careful not to overcook and so lose the fresh flavour of the fruit), then remove the pan from the heat.

Now trim one slice of bread to fit the base of the pudding basin, and cut 4 slices in half to line the side of the basin, overlapping them at the straight edge with the rounded side down, and sealing well by pressing the edges together. Fill any gaps with small pieces of bread, so that no juice can get through when you add the fruit.

Pour the fruit and juice in – except for about a cupful – then cover the pudding with the remaining bread and place a small plate or saucer (one that will fit exactly inside the rim of the bowl) on top. Place a 1.8kg scale weight – or some other heavy object – on top of that and leave in the fridge overnight.

Just before serving, loosen the pudding all round using a palette knife, and turn it out onto a large serving dish, then spoon the reserved fruit and juice all over, to soak any bits of bread that still look white (a pastry brush is useful here). Serve cut into wedges, with some cream on the table.

Notes on ingredients
Any leftover fruit can be sprinkled with sugar, chilled and served with cream or ice cream. Or they can be whizzed to a purée, and poured over ice cream.

Nutrition 254kcals/58.4g carbohydrate/33.9g sugars/1.2g fat/0.3g saturated fat/0.7g salt per serving