California Summer Pudding Recipes

SUMMER PUDDING

Steps:

• Place fruit in saucepan with sugar and cook gently for 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Line pudding basin with slices of bread, leaving no gaps. Fill with fruit, cover the top with more bread, to form lid. Cover with saucer and put weights on top, to press the bread down. Refrigerate for 12 hours or overnight. Turn out onto serving plate spoon over extra juice to cover any white part still showing. Serve with clotted cream or ice cream.

SUMMER PUDDING

Steps:

• The day before you plan to serve the pudding, line a 2 quart mixing bowl with plastic wrap. Line the plastic wrap with the white bread slices, trimming to fit so that the pieces fit together neatly. Save enough bread to cover the top of the pudding.
• In a saucepan, combine the apple juice concentrate and all the berries. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until the strawberries begin to soften, about 1 minute. Turn off the heat immediately.
• Stirring, dissolve the gelatin in the water, then add the mixture to the berries and stir to combine. Spoon into the bread-lined bowl. Cover with remaining bread slices, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and slightly weight it down. Chill overnight.
• When ready to serve, whip the cream with an electric mixer at high speed until it forms soft peaks.
• Remove the pudding from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Carefully turn the pudding out onto a platter, remove the bowl and the plastic wrap. Serve in slices with whipped cream on top.

RASPBERRY SUMMER PUDDING

Steps:

• Line a 1-quart charlotte mold with plastic wrap and trim 1 whole bread slice to fit the bottom of it. Arrange the halved slices, overlapping them slightly, around the sides of the mold and press the bread round into the bottom.
• In a saucepan combine 4 cups of the raspberries, the sugar, and the framboise, bring the mixture to a simmer over moderate heat, stirring, and simmer it, stirring, for 3 minutes, or until the raspberries are crushed and the sugar is dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and let the raspberry mixture cool.
• Spoon one third of the raspberry mixture into the mold and top it with 1 slice of the remaining bread, trimming the bread if necessary. Spoon the remaining raspberry mixture into the mold and top it with enough of the remaining 3 slices of bread, cut into pieces, to cover the top completely. Cover the mold with a round wax paper cut to fit the inside of the mold, top the wax paper with 1 round of stiff cardboard cut to fit the inside of the mold, and weight the pudding evenly with a 2-pound weight. Chill the pudding overnight.
• Just before serving, remove the weight, the cardboard, and the wax paper, run a thin knife around the edge of the mold to loosen the pudding, and invert a large round serving plate over the mold. Invert the raspberry pudding onto the plate, remove the plastic wrap, and garnish the pudding with the whipped cream and the additional raspberries.

SUMMER PUDDING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Place bread slices on baking sheet. Bake bread until slightly dry and firm, about 8 minutes. Trim crusts and discard. Arrange enough bread slices over bottom and up sides of 6- to 6 1/2-cup bowl or pudding mold to line completely; trim overhang and reserve.
• Combine strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, sugar and cranberry juice cocktail in heavy large saucepan. Stir over low heat just until frozen berries thaw and sugar dissolves, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Ladle warm fruit and juices into bread-lines bowl. Cover fruit with reserved bread trimmings. Place small plate atop pudding; weigh down plate with cans or weights. Refrigerate overnight.
• Remove weights and plate. Invert pudding onto platter. Cut into wedges and serve with sweetened whipped cream.

SUMMER PUDDING

Steps:

• Bring out the juices: Wash fruit and gently dry on kitchen paper - keep strawberries separate. Put sugar and 3 tbsp water into a large pan. Gently heat until sugar dissolves - stir a few times. Bring to a boil for 1 min, then tip in the fruit (not strawberries). Cook for 3 mins over a low heat, stirring 2-3 times. The fruit will be softened, mostly intact and surrounded by dark red juice. Put a sieve over a bowl and tip in the fruit and juice.
• Line the bowl with cling film and prepare the bread: Line the 1.25-litre basin with cling film as this will help you to turn out the pudding. Overlap two pieces of cling film in the middle of the bowl as it's easier than trying to get one sheet to stick to all of the curves. Let the edges overhang by about 15cm. Cut the crusts off the bread. Cut 4 pieces of bread in half, a little on an angle, to give 2 lopsided rectangles per piece. Cut 2 slices into 4 triangles each and leave the final piece whole.
• Build the pud: Dip the whole piece of bread into the juice for a few secs just to coat. Push this into the bottom of the basin. Now dip the wonky rectangular pieces one at a time and press around the basin's sides so that they fit together neatly, alternately placing wide and narrow ends up. If you can't quite fit the last piece of bread in it doesn't matter, just trim into a triangle, dip in juice and slot in. Now spoon in the softened fruit, adding the strawberries here and there as you go.
• Let flavours mingle then serve: Dip the bread triangles in juice and place on top - trim off overhang with scissors. Keep leftover juice for later. Bring cling film up and loosely seal. Put a side plate on top and weight down with cans. Chill for 6 hrs or overnight. To serve, open out cling film then put a serving plate upside-down on top and flip over. serve with leftover juice, any extra berries and cream.

SUMMER PUDDING

Steps:

• Line the bottom of a 2- to 2 1/2-quart bowl with bread, tearing bread as necessary to completely cover bottom without overlapping. Halve remaining bread slices lengthwise. Line sides of bowl with overlapping bread slices (reserve some for covering the top); trim bread flush with top of bowl.
• Combine berries, sugar, cinnamon, and 1/4 cup water in a large saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, gently stirring a few times, just until berries start to soften and currants begin to burst and release their juices. Do not let mixture boil. Remove from heat. Let cool 10 minutes.
• Pour berry mixture into bowl and cover with a single layer of remaining bread slices, tearing bread as necessary to fill in any gaps. Place a round dish or pan slightly smaller than the diameter of the bowl on top of bread, and press down on plate until juices rise to surface. Place a heavy can or other weight on top of plate. Transfer to refrigerator and let chill at least 12 hours and up to 1 day.
• Remove weighted plate from basin. Run a thin knife around edge between bread and bowl. Invert onto a rimmed serving plate and lift bowl to release pudding. Stir together mascarpone and cream in a bowl until smooth, then whisk to soft peaks. Cut pudding into wedges and serve with whipped mascarpone cream.

CALIFORNIA SUMMER PUDDING

Steps:

• Trim crusts from the bread and cut it into roughly 1/3 inch slices if not already sliced. Stack and cut them in half diagonally to make triangles.
• Line a 6 cup mold or bowl with plastic wrap, fitting the wrap tightly into the corners. Make sure you have a plate small enough to fit just inside the rim of the bowl or, if not, cut a stiff cardboard circle to fit and wrap in aluminum foil.
• Piece together the bread slices in a single layer so they completely line the bowl. There should be no gaps. Whereever the bread overlaps, press the edges together tightly. Trim bread if it reaches over the top of the bowl.
• Cut a shallow "X" in the base of each peach and dunk in rapidly boiling water until the peel starts to come loose - 20 seconds to 1 minute - depending on ripeness of peach. Remove and rinse under cold water. If the peel doesn't come off easily, return to boiling water briefly. Pit and cut into chunks.
• Combine the fruit and sugar in a saucepan and warm over medium heat. Cook just until the fruit begins to soften and relase its juice, about 3 or 4 minutes. Stir in brandy.
• Spoon the fruit into the bowl; there should be enough that it mounds a little above the lip. Place a sheet of plastic wrap loosely across the top, then place the plate or cardboard circle on top. Press gently and put a heavy can on top. Refrigerate at least 12 hours.
• When ready to serve, remove plate and top layer of plastic wrap. Place a serving plate on top of the bowl and invert. If the pudding resists unmolding, hold the plastic wrap and jiggle gently until it unmolds cleanly. Remove the plastic wrap lining and serve with yogurt or whipped cream.