Summer pudding is a classic English dessert made of berries encased in sliced white bread soaked in the berry juices. It is traditionally served cold with cream or custard. Perfect for a southern hemisphere Christmas!
In a saucepan combine 175g (6¼ oz) of sugar and 60ml (2 fl oz) of water. Heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Now add 1kg (2.2 lb) of mixed raspberries, blackberries and blueberries and cook for a few minutes, stirring a few times. Place the fruit in a sieve and drain the juices into a shallow wide bowl. Transfer the fruit to another bowl and add 250g (8.8 oz) of washed and hulled fresh strawberries and mix through. Line a 1.25l (8½ fl oz) bowl with 2 overlapping pieces of cling wrap long enough to reach over the top when the bowl is full. Cut the crusts from 7 slices of stale white bread from a square loaf – leave one whole, cut 2 into triangles and cut 4 in half on a slight angle. Using the whole piece first, dip it into the fruit juices to coat it all and press it into the bottom of the bowl. Use the uneven rectangle pieces next with the smaller edge to the bottom of the bowl, making sure each is covered in juice and if they don’t all fit then trim the final one to fit. Now spoon all of the fruit into the bowl. Dip the triangular pieces into the juice and cover the top, trimming if necessary. Keep any leftover juice for serving. Fold the cling wrap over the top and find a small plate to fit. Weigh the plate down with a couple of cans of food and refrigerate overnight. To serve, open the cling wrap and put a serving plate over the top. Flip over and peel the cling wrap from the rest of the pudding and voilà, you have summer pudding! Well before serving, thicken the remaining sauce by heating it in a small saucepan and adding a slurry of arrowroot powder and water bit by bit until you have a clear and glossy sauce of the desired consistency. Allow it to cool completely before pouring over the pudding to serve.
michelle picker cooks 