Dear Marc Fosh,
Do you have a quick and easy recipe for summer pudding, considering there is so much fruit on the markets right now.
Thanks
It's a great time for fresh fruit at the moment and summer pudding is one of the very few old classic dishes that I still enjoy making. There are some important basic rules to follow when making a good summer pudding. The first thing to consider is the fruit.
Good raspberries are paramount to the success of the dish as they provide that great tangy flavour and an intense deep red colour. For a 1litre pudding basin you will need about 900g of mixed berries, predominately raspberries, and currants. Make sure they are sorted thoroughly and pick out any unripe or mouldy fruit. Place in a saucepan and add a couple of tablespoons of sugar and water. Heat gently for about 4-5 minutes until the fruit just starts to break down and remove from the heat.
You can taste the essence at this stage to see if it needs a little more sugar but I prefer to have a little natural, acidic tartness for the filling. You will need about 810 slices of good quality white bread. Cut off the crusts, then cut into 3 long fingers. Line the inside of the basin, overlapping slightly and push down with your fingers. There should be no holes.
Pour the fruit into the bread-lined basin and lay the remaining bread on top. There should be no fruit showing. Place the basin in a baking tray and place a flat plate on top with a heavy weight to press the fruit down. Leave overnight in the fridge.
To serve, turn out the summer pudding and serve with fresh cream and vanilla ice cream.
If you want to lighten-up the summer pudding you could omit the bread and pour over some champagne jelly to set the fruit or you could use pancakes.
Marc Fosh is the resident chef at Read's Hotel in Santa Maria and is the Sa Punto international travel guide's Chef of the Year Majorca.