pudding

Fruit salad

8 Comments / pudding /

This is what I call a proper fruit salad, it’s the fruit salad that we used to have as kids after sunday lunch.  This is the very reason I made it this weekend. We don’t have pudding in the week, but we do always have pudding after sunday dinner and we don’t just have one option.  Oh no, there are always at least two pudding options, sometimes three and it has been known to escalate to five if we are having sunday dinner down at my mum’s and there are other guests coming. This week I made chocolate brioche pudding, fruit salad and brandy snaps, and semolina (served with dollops of strawberry jam, of course).

Fruit salad is easy to put together and you can use whatever fruit you have in your fruit bowl, being as exotic or as ordinary as you like.  I much prefer it made in the morning so that it has a few hours for the sugar syrup to take on the fruity flavours and it is lovely the next day too.  Lashings of double cream are almost obligatory and if you have the time then a biscuit such as a brandy snap or a tuile is a wonderful addition.

100g caster sugar ( I always use golden for a lovely caramel colour)
100ml water
juice of 1 lemon
A selection of your favourite fruit, sliced ( I used 1 apple, 1 pear, 1 kiwi, 1 clementine and a handful of grapes)

Method

Place the sugar and water in a pan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar.  Allow to simmer for a minute or so.  Remove from the heat and squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon, this will help to counteract the sweetness of the sugar syrup but also will stop the fruit from turning brown.  Allow the syrup to cool and then add the sliced fruit, giving it all a good mix so that every piece of fruit gets covered in the syrup (to prevent any browning).  Place in the fridge for the flavours to develop, but bring it out about 30 minutes before you want to serve as it tastes much better than straight out of the fridge.

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Aga meringues

15 Comments / eggs, pudding /
Aga meringues with lemon curd

After I made lemon curd, I had five egg whites ready to make meringues.  They are a real treat and are delicious when made in the simmering or warming oven of the Aga. They don’t last long in our house, as the girls both love them, well they are balls of sugar so of course they love them.

You can either cook them in the simmering oven which takes about two hours or you can leave them overnight in the warming oven, which makes life very easy indeed.  I always make my pavlova in this way too.

For every egg white you will need 50g (2oz) caster sugar.  I always use golden caster sugar (which is less refined than white sugar) which gives them a lovely caramel hue.

5 egg whites
275g (10oz) caster sugar

Method

Line a baking tray with silicone paper.

Whisk the egg whites in a scrupulously clean bowl (I always wipe a cut lemon around the bowl to remove every bit of grease) until they form soft peaks when you lift up the whisk.  Add the sugar a teaspoonful at a time, whisking in each addition before adding the next.  The mixture will become stiff and glossy.

Place spoonfuls onto the baking sheet.  Place in the simmering oven of the Aga for about two hours and then place on top of a tea towel on top of the lid of the of the simmering plate to completely dry out.  Alternatively place in the warming oven overnight and they will be perfect in the morning.

Serve with whipped double cream, fruit, chocolate ganache or indeed lemon curd.

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Clementines in sugar syrup

5 Comments / oranges, pudding /

I made this clementine salad for pudding on my Mum’s birthday and served it with the Victoria Sandwich, which was a very good combination – it was reminiscent of trifle.  It is equally good served on its own or with a splash of cream.  If you want to jazz it up further a splash of orange liqueur in the sugar syrup would be very good indeed.

It is very easy to make and studded with the pomegranate seeds it is jewel-like in appearance.

5 clementines
½ pomegranate
100g caster sugar
50ml water

Method

Using a sharp knife cut the peel and pith off four of the clementines and then slice the segments out of the skin so you have just the flesh and none of the skin.  If you can do this over the serving bowl that will mean that any escaping juice will be caught.  Place the clementine flesh in a glass serving bowl.  Squeeze the juice out of the remaining clementine and pour over the clementine flesh. Hold the half of the pomegranate over the serving bowl and using a spoon bash the skin of the pomegranate so that the seeds scatter into the bowl.

Place the sugar in a small saucepan and pour over the water.  Place over a gentle heat until the sugar has completely dissolved.  Turn the heat up slightly and let the syrup boil for about two minutes until it develops a golden colour. Pour the sugar syrup over the clementines (if you wanted to add a splash of orange liqueur this would be the time to do it) and then chill for a few hours before serving.

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Baked apples

4 Comments / apples, pudding /

This is one of my favourite puddings.  We used to have it when we were kids on a regular basis as we had some lovely Bramley apple trees in the garden of the house I grew up in.  Fluffy apple, syrupy apple juices, plump raisins and lashings of cream make a very satisfying end to a meal.  I haven’t given quantities as it will depend on how many people you are feeding, you will need one apple for each person and for each apple you will need about a tablespoon of syrup, a tablespoon of dried fruit and a little bit of butter.

Bramley apples, cored and the skin split around the middle to prevent apple explosions
Raisins or sultanas or mixed dried fruit ( I used a mixture of chopped glace cherries to the apples in the photo)
Golden syrup
Butter
Splash of water

Method

Place the apples into a baking dish that is big enough to take all of the apples. Fill the centre of the apples with dried fruit.  Spoon over golden syrup (about a tablespoon for each apple) and place a small lump of butter onto each apple. Add a splash of water to the dish, this will help prevent the syrup burning.

Cook in a preheated oven at 180°c (gas mark 4, 350°c) for 20-25 minutes until the apples are fluffy.

Ready for the oven
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Bread pudding

3 Comments / bread, cake, pudding /

bread pudding

We often have leftover bread especially if I have been near a bakers for two consecutive days.  We never waste it though, it either gets fed to the chickens or I whizz it into breadcrumbs and put them in a food bag in the freezer. If I have a bit of time then leftover bread gets made into this or the bread and butter pudding I have posted before.  The girls both love bread pudding and so do I.  It can be eaten warm with cold cream as a pudding or eaten cold the next day with a cup of tea.

This recipe is based on Delia Smith’s recipe in her Complete Cookery Course. I like to add a mixture of glacé cherries, sour cherries and sultanas and some candied peel if I have it in the cupboard. You can use any mixture of dried fruits as long as they weigh a combined 175g (60z). You could use dried prunes or apricots.

225g (80z) white or brown bread with the crusts removed
275 ml (½ pint) milk
75g (3 oz) dark soft brown sugar
50g (2oz) melted butter
2 tsp mixed spice
1 egg, beaten
175g (60z) dried fruits
grated rind of ½ orange

Method

You will need a baking dish with a 2½ pint (1½ litre) capacity, well buttered.

Break the bread into small pieces and place in a bowl.  Pour the milk over the bread and leave to soak for 30 minutes.  Add the beaten egg, melted butter, mixed spice and sugar and stir well to thoroughly combine. It is best if you use a fork for this stirring to get rid of any big lumps of bread. Stir in the dried fruit and orange rind.  Spread the mixture into the buttered dish and bake in a preheated oven at 180°c (350°f, gas mark 4) for about 1 hour.  It may need slightly longer.  It’s ready when it is a lovely golden colour.


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Stewed damsons

11 Comments / damsons, pudding /

stewed damsons

I think one of the best things to do with damsons is to keep it simple and stew them with sugar. I tend to cook them straight from frozen, they just need a little bit longer in the oven.  It’s hard to beat them when they are served with custard.  My girls love to mix the damson juice with the custard to make a vivid pink pudding.  We each save all the damson stones and then see who we are going to marry by counting them saying “Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief’ and then we count them again to see how we are going to travel to church on the wedding day “coach, carriage, wheelbarrow, muck cart”. It’s daft but it has to be done.

It’s hard to give precise measurements here because it will depend on how tart or sweet you like your damsons.  I like mine to taste tart and then be sweetened by the custard.

Serves 4

300g (10oz) frozen damsons
5 dessertspoons demerara sugar

Put the damsons and sugar into an ovenproof bowl and bake at 180°c for 20 minutes until the damsons are soft and have begun to burst out of their skins.

Serve warm with plenty of warm custard.

damsons and custard

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Queen of puddings

Leave a Comment / bread, pudding /

queen of puddings

The Queen of Puddings is one of my favourite puddings, it’s a last meal choice I think. It’s the ultimate in comfort cooking and a good one for when the nights are drawing in and the weather is getting chilly.  I made the one in the picture today for after our sunday lunch and it didn’t last long.  It’s an easy pudding to do for sunday lunch because you can cook it in advance to the stage before you put the meringue on top and that last stage takes less than five minutes to prepare, with 10- 15  minutes cooking, so if you do it just before you are ready to serve the sunday lunch, pudding will still be warm when you are ready to eat it .  I made this one with damson jam because that is what I am enjoying at the moment, but you can use any jam you like.  Strawberry jam is a very good choice indeed!

Serves 6
100g (4 oz) white breadcrumbs
1 pint (570ml) whole milk
10 g (½ oz) butter
grated rind of 1 lemon
4 eggs
40g (1½ oz) caster sugar
4 tbsps of the jam of your choice
Method
Separate 3 of the eggs, putting the whites to one side to make the meringue later and add the yolks  to the remaining whole egg, beating them lightly together.
Heat the milk in a small saucepan to boiling point, remove from the heat, stir in the butter, lemon rind and breadcrumbs.  Leave for 20 minutes for the breadcrumbs to swell.

Put the jam in the bottom of a deep baking dish (one that has a three pint capacity). Add the yolks to the breadcrumb mixture,combining well, and pour this mixture over the jam. Put into the centre of a preheated oven at 180°c (350°f, gas mark 4) and bake for 20-25 mins until set. Leave to cool.

Beat the egg whites until stiff then add the sugar a teaspoonful at a time whilst still whisking.  Spread this meringue mixture over the top of the pudding. Bake in the oven at 180°c for 10-15 mins until the meringue is golden brown.  Serve whilst warm, but should you have any left, which is doubtful, then it is also lovely cold the next day.

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Bread and Butter Pudding

1 Comment / bread, pudding /

This is a family favourite and a good way of using up a stale loaf.  It’s at is best when served warm with cold cream after a sunday lunch, but also lovely to eat cold the next day.

6-8 slices of good bread (stale is fine)
20g  butter
50g sultanas or mixed dried fruit
50g demerara sugar
2 eggs
¾ pint (400 ml) whole milk

Method
Grease a baking dish with butter, I use a rectangular one that measures 30cm x 20cm.

Butter one side of each slice of bread generously.  Lay the bread in the baking dish (butter side up) and sprinkle with the sultanas/ mixed fruit and the sugar between layers.

In a measuring jug, beat the eggs lightly and add the milk to make up to the 1 pint (570 ml) mark.  Whisk the milk and eggs together until combined. Pour this mixture over the bread.  Leave to soak for 30 mins – 1 hour until the bread has soaked up the milk and eggs.  Bake in a preheated oven at 180°c (350°f) for 30 mins until golden brown on top .

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