Summer Pudding

This is the perfect summer dessert to enjoy on a warm summers day and a great way of using some of the fruit I picked at Grove Farm recently. It encapsulates all the vibrant, zingy, fresh, fruity, sweet flavours of summer berries to form a truly divine dessert. It’s amazing how gently heating the summer fruits and encasing them in a bread lined bowl can transform already wonderful tasting berries into something truly spectacular.

When you think about it – mushed up berries encased in soggy bread – it doesn’t sound particularly appealing but in reality it’s fabulous. The berries juices are a vibrant red, shiny and glossy while the fruits are soft and sweet, their natural summery flavours personified by being tumbled together, while the gentle heating breaks down their sometimes tough outer skins.

The colour and flavour of the berry juices is outstanding. I even used some of the leftover drizzled on my morning cereal and yogurt.

The bread eagerly absorbs the fruits juices while retaining just enough of its structure to remain intact when turned out. Cutting a slice reveals the mingled berries tucked inside as they tumble out in a pool of their own glossy juices.

As I knew this particular summer pudding was to be enjoyed by adults only I decided to add a bit of extra indulgence to the pudding – black cherry liqueur and Crème de Cassis (blackcurrant liqueur). Not too much, I didn’t want to actually taste the alcohol, only highlight and deepen the fruitiness of the berries.

I used the cut off crusts of bread to mop up the little blobs of berries and juices I had managed to spread around the kitchen and oh boy did it taste gooooood. I was almost tempted to do away with the chilling and firming stage and just dig straight in but with no pets or small children to use as scapegoats I managed to restrain myself until later when I enjoyed it with my family. It was worth the wait.

So simple, so summery, so unbelievably good and it’s healthy too! It has to be one of my favourite ways to enjoy the summer berry bounty. I urge you to give it a go. If you’d like to make mini individual ones, click here to see last years post.

Summer Pudding

Ingredients
400g strawberries
250g raspberries
200g blackcurrants
100ml water
100g caster sugar
6 slices of white bread
1 tbsp black cherry liqueur or Kirsch
1 tbsp Crème de Cassis

Method
Sort through the raspberries and blackcurrants and remove any bits of twig or leaf before placing them into a saucepan. Destalk the strawberries and cut them into halves or quarters so they are about the same size as the raspberries. Add to the pan with the rest of the fruit.
Pour over the water and heat gently for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the fruits start to break down and release their juices.
Stir in the sugar and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Then stir in the cherry liqueur and Cassis and remove from the heat.
Pour the berry mixture into a sieve placed over a bowl to catch the fruits juices. Transfer the juice – minus its fruit back into the saucepan. Bring the fruit juices to the boil then allow to bubble for 1-2 minutes until slightly reduced and syrupy. (You want to do this after removing the fruit so some of the fruit remains intact).
Remove the fruit juice from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Slice the crusts off the slices of bread and cut one slice in half. With another slice, cut out as large a circle as the bread will allow, ideally about 4inches, for the base of the bowl. You will need about 3½ slices to line the sides of the bowl, the circle for the base and the remaining 1½ slices for the top. You can check if you have enough by testing it out in the bowl or pudding basin you are going to use.
Your glass bowl or pudding basin should be 6inches wide at the top and 3inches at the base and about 3inches deep.
Dip the base circle of bread into the glossy fruit juices in the pan, don’t leave it for long or else it will go too soft to handle. Turn the bread over to soak the other side before placing it into the base of your bowl or basin.

Dip the side slices of bread in the juices, one at a time and use them to line the sides of the bowl, overlapping them slightly so there are no gaps.
Once fully lined, pour the strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants into the centre, smoothing out the surface. It should reach nearly to the top of the bowl.
Dip your final 1½ slices of bread into the fruit juices and arrange over the top of the fruit to act as a ‘lid’ (save the rest of the fruit juices to serve with the pudding later). Gently press down the side pieces of bread, over the top of the ‘lid’ and cover the top of the bowl with clingfilm.
Place a small plate or saucer on top of the pudding and weigh it down with something heavy, weights from your scales or large tins of tomatoes are ideal.

Place the bowl on a small tray to catch any juices that may seep up and out of the pudding while it rests. Place in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours to chill, condense and firm up.
Once ready to serve, remove the clingfilm and run a small round bladed butter knife around the top edge of the bowl to loosen any fruit juice than might have air dried slightly and gone sticky.
Place a large serving plate over the top and flip the whole lot over. Give the pudding basin a little shake and the summer pudding should release from the bowl and hold its shape well. Drizzle over some of the reserved juices.
Serve in generous slices with some more of the reserved juices and cream or ice cream if desired.
Serves 6-8

The Cake Slice July 2010: Key West Cake with Mango Mousse and Ginger Lime Cream

I was really excited when this cake got chosen as this months Cake Slice cake. It’s one I had been longing to bake for ages, the ingredients sounded so fresh and tropical – mango, fresh ginger and lime – and yet it is not a combination I have together in a cake before. The cake also called for a rum syrup to be drizzled over the cake layers before assembly which just made it appeal even more.

The cake requires quite a bit of work due to its many components – cake, rum syrup, mango mousse and ginger lime cream. The ginger lime cream also calls for you to make your own ginger lime curd which may sound a bit of a nuisance but I can assure you the results are completely worth the extra effort. In fact this curd turned out to be my favourite part of the cake, so much so that I plan on making it again and eating it just as curd. It was so fresh and zingy with the lime zest and juice and the ginger was just subtly there in the background, delicious. We were meant to pass the curd through a fine sieve to remove the zest once cooked, but I decided to skip this step as I liked seeing the green zest speckled through the curd, so pretty. Plus, I’m sure it added to the flavour.

The cake layers contain very little butter and the main volume of the cake comes from whisking eggs and sugar over a pan of hot water until ribbons form. This produces and very light and airy cake which has a springy bounce when pressed. The batter was quite thick and sticky and reminded me strongly of choux pastry dough.

Using rum syrup to soak the cake layers kept them wonderfully moist and added a lovely tropical flavour against the mango and lime. If you didn’t want to use alcohol I’m sure replacing this with pineapple juice would be equally tasty.

The mango mousse called for gelatine to help it set firm. Being a vegetarian I left this out completely and just replied on chilling the whipped cream mixture to help my cake set. I know you can get vegetarian style gelatine, but when you have lots of whipped cream I always think this is unnecessary. Plus, I don’t like the jellied texture it gives. Setting the cake in the fridge for a while does the same sort of job, as the cream firms up as it cools.

Overall I adored this cake. It was light, fresh and fruity, perfect for this time of year and I had fun learning some new techniques along the way. Click here to see my fellow Cake Slice bakers and their cakes.

Key West Cake with Mango Mousse and Ginger Lime Cream

Recipe from Sky High Irresistible Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

Cake

6 eggs

225g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

300g plain flour

45g unsalted butter, melted and slightly warm

Rum Syrup

55g caster sugar

110ml water

55ml rum

Mango Mousse

350g finely diced mango (use tinned if fresh is not available)

75ml water

75g plus a separate 20g caster sugar
2 tsp unflavoured gelatine powder
2 tbsp light rum
225ml double cream

Ginger Lime Cream
4 egg yolks
110g caster sugar
Zest of 1 lime
55ml freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
330ml cold double cream

Cake Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the base of three 8inch round pans with parchment or waxed paper.
Place the eggs in a large heatproof bowl. Gradually beat in the sugar and the vanilla. Set over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until all the sugar dissolves and the eggs are warmer than body temperature. Remove from the heat and, with the mixer on medium high, whip the eggs until very fluffy and stiff enough so that a slowly dissolving ribbon forms from the dripping batter when the beaters are lifted.
Sift the flour and return to the sifter. Carefully sift about a third of the flour over the top of the eggs. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold it in. Repeat with the remaining flour, folding just until blended evenly. Finally, drizzle the butter over the batter and carefully fold it in. Divide the batter among the 3 cake pans.
Bake the layers for 12 to 14 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let the cakes cool completely in their pans. To unmold, run a blunt knife around the rims to carefully release the edges of the cakes and tap them out gently. Carefully remove the paper on the bottom of each layer.

Rum Syrup
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil until the syrup is reduced by half, about 110ml. Remove from the heat and add the rum.

Mango Mousse

Place the mango chunks in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Add the water, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
Transfer the cooled mangoes, along with any liquid, to a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Remove 120ml of the mango puree, stir in 20g of sugar and set aside to use as garnish. Place the remaining mango puree (about 220-250ml) in a large bowl.
Put the gelatine in a small glass or ceramic dish. Add the rum and let soften for about 5 minutes. With a microwave on low, heat the gelatine until dissolved, about 10 seconds.
Whisk the gelatine and remaining 75g sugar into the mango puree until all the sugar dissolves.
In another large chilled bowl, whip the cram until stiff. Using a rubber spatula, fold the cream into the sweetened mango puree.

Ginger Lime Cream

Whisk the egg yolks in a small, heavy nonreactive saucepan. Gradually whisk in the sugar, then the lime zest, juice and ginger. Cook over a medium low heat, stirring and scraping the base of the pot with a spatula, until the yolks visibly thicken, about 3-5 minutes.
Strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove the zest and ginger chunks. Cover the ginger lime curd with plastic wrap, pressing it directly into the surface and refrigerate until very cold, about 1 hour.
In a large mixing bowl, whip the ream until stiff. Fold the whipped cream into the ginger lime curd.

To Assemble

Place one cake layer on a cake stand, flat side up. Soak it with 55ml of the rum syrup. Spread half the mango mousse over the layer evenly. Repeat with the second cake layer using another 55ml syrup and the remaining mousse. Add the last cake layer, soak with the last of the rum syrup and chill the cake for about 1 hour.
Once firm, frost the cake with the ginger lime cream. Use a pastry bag fitted with a star nozzle to decorate the cake with the remaining cream. Serve the cake with a spoonful of the reserved mango puree from earlier.

The Joys of Picking Your Own

Now the sunny weather is here all sorts of fruit and veg has sprouted, blossomed and grown and is now ripe for the picking. Last weekend was a particularly sunny day and I spent a most enjoyable afternoon at a Pick Your Own farm, doing just that – picking my own fruit and veg.

I went with my mother and grandmother to Grove Farm, which is about an hours drive away but well worth the trip. They sell different fruits and vegetables over a 4-5 month summer period depending on what’s in season and growing at that moment. When we visited they had strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, fresh peas, spinach, new potatoes, beetroot, broad beans and carrots.

The fun thing is that when they say Pick Your Own they really mean it, as you are provided with a wheelbarrow, bags, boxes and a spade and sent to trundle through the surrounding fields and bushes, digging up and collecting the produce to your hearts content.

It can’t get any fresher than actually pulling your own carrots and beetroot directly out the ground! The intensity of carrot flavour is a just picked carrot is unbelievable!

The sun was shining as all three generations of our family chatted while lifting the leaves of the strawberry plants, hunting out the plump red fruits hidden underneath, sampling the odd one just to check their ripeness.

We came away laden with fresh produce – I see plenty of salads and fruity treats ahead! There are quite a number of PYO farms dotted around and I highly recommend hunting them out. The produce is often far cheaper than the supermarkets and aside from growing your own, you won’t find fresher or more local produce.

A Fantastico Evening with Gennaro Contaldo & Bertolli Sauces

Tuesday evening found me gathered in the downstairs cookery workshop of London’s L’atelier des Chefs along with a group of 10-12 food bloggers for an evening of Italian food and sauces. The event was being run by Bertolli to showcase their new range of Italian sauces in association with none other than famous Italian chef Gennaro Contaldo! For those of you who don’t know Gennaro the man responsible for inspiring Jamie Oliver’s love of Italian cuisine and has also appeared in a number of his tv programmes.

Walking down the stairs to the cookery workshop I felt like I was entering some secret underground bunker. The walls were lined with cookware while a large professional kitchen was visible through a huge glass wall. The room was dimly lit and a large table filled one end of the room, covered with a red chequered tablecloth and bowls of olives, bread and olive oil and balsamic for dipping.

Over drinks and introductions we waited for Gennaro to arrive. The other bloggers were a lovely bunch and a lot of them seemed to know each other. I had a great chat with Helen of Fuss Free Flavours but I was also pleased when Anne of Anne’s Kitchen turned up, as I’ve met her once before and it was good to catch up. Then all of a sudden Gennaro arrived and everyone became very excited as he took time to chat to us all individually.

We then made our way to the kitchens where we were given aprons and big white floppy chefs hats to wear before being split into tables to work with. Here’s Anne modelling the outfit. I don’t know if the hats were sized, but I think mine must have been a large as at one point in the evening it fell completely over my eyes and nose, making me feel very foolish. Thankfully I think everyone was too absorbed with what they were doing to notice.

Gennaro started by telling us that most Italian sauces start with a Soffritto base. This is a mix of finely diced carrot, onion, celery and garlic with is sweated off before adding tomatoes and any other ingredients. This gives the sauce extra depth of flavour and is the method and base used for all the Bertolli sauces, which are also made using Italian ingredients. Gennaro told us that he wasn’t promoting the sauces to replace normal cooking but more as good staples to have on standby for when you are short of time or come home late and open the fridge to find only some milk and a few bendy carrots for dinner.

The sauces come in a range of flavours and Gennaro demonstrated three different dishes to us using the sauces. He cooked a chunky beef ragu using the bolognaise sauce, some poached mackerel, capers and oregano in the tomato and basil variety and a vegetarian mushroom and courgette bolognaise. The smells coming off the dishes were fantastic and very fresh and authentic. Gennaro is so passionate and enthusiastic about Italian food and cooking that he was constantly jumping around, shouting Italian phrases and making us laugh with stories, all accompanied by big hand gestures and facial expressions. It made a great atmosphere but meant he never stood still long enough for me to get an un-blurred photo of him!

While these dishes were bubbling away we got to make our own Soffritto base to which we added tins of whole Italian tomatoes – which we had to squash using our hands – nice and squishy!

He then demonstrated that by adding a few chopped chillies we could turn our simple sauce into a spicy Arrabbiatta sauce. He said to use 1 or 2 chillies as the small ones he was given were quite hot, but he then got a bit carried away with his story about how not to touch your face or go to the toilet after chopping chillies (see pic below) and ended up chopping about 12 which he divided between our four joint pots – good thing I like my sauce spicy!

We didn’t have time to finish cooking our sauces so we were all provided with our own customised jar and label so we could bring our sauce home and continue cooking with it later. I thought that was a really nice touch.

Then it was time to eat. We all sat around the big table sipping Prosecco and nibbling on the bread and olives while the dishes were plated up.

Gennaro asked if there were any Vegetarians and of course, up went my hand rather sheepishly. It was the only hand… but Gennaro proclaimed loudly that he loved Vegetarians and that some of his favourite recipes were Vegetarian and gave me a huge portion of the Veggie ragu on tagliatelle while the others sampled the mackerel followed by the ragu (modelled here by Josh of Cooking The Books).

The veggie ragu was delicious and had a wonderfully deep tomato flavour. Being Italian the pasta was of course served al dente, just as I like it. By the appreciative sounds coming from the other diners I think the other dishes were very good too.

At the end of the evening we were all presented with a selection of the Bertolli sauces, recipe cards and recipe book for us to take away and experiment with ourselves. I was also delighted to be given a signed copy of Gennaro’s cookery book, complete with lots of delicious sounding dishes. I came away full, happy and inspired to get cooking Italian food. Thanks to everyone at Wildcard and Bertolli for organising it and to Gennaro for being so enthusiastic and friendly. It was a fantastico way to spend an evening!

Deep Chocolate Chip Brownies

Last weekend I was in the mood for brownies. I wanted them to be simple, no nonsense, pure, thick, moist and very chocolaty. I went on a brownie blog hunt and came across David Lebovitz’s blog which featured the most incredible looking Dulce de Leche brownies. They weren’t quite what I was after but I saved the recipe and carried on hunting. However, I couldn’t get those Dulce de Leche brownies out of my mind, they just looked so indulgent and the perfect sort of texture I was craving, so I decided to adapt the recipe slightly and just make the brownie part sans the Dulce de Leche. I know some people who will think I am crazy for doing this but I didn’t want to taste anything other than chocolate in my brownies.

The recipe was very quick and easy to put together. I liked how it made use of a good quantity of dark chocolate as well as some cocoa powder to ensure they were truly chocolaty. I also added some white chocolate chips to my batter as I like to see them dotted throughout the brownie once sliced.

The resulting brownies were fabulous! About an inch deep (wow!) and with a gorgeous moist texture and certainly packed with rich chocolate flavour. They had a paper thin crisp sugary top which I feel is always the mark of a good brownie.

They were divine when eaten still ever so slightly warm, the white chocolate chips still a little soft and melty. Pure chocolate indulgence. I wouldn’t say they were my ultimate brownie as I like mine to have a bit of chew to them also, but they were very close! I found the following day they had gone a little more cakey but they were still very fudgy and delicious. I’m definitely going to be trying out the Dulce de Leche version sometime soon.

Deep Chocolate Chip Brownies
(Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz's blog)

Ingredients
115g butter
150g dark chocolate 60-70%
25g cocoa powder
3 eggs
200g caster sugar
120g plain flour
75g white chocolate chips (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 175C.
Line an 8 inch/20cm square pan with a long sheet of foil that covers the bottom and reaches up all four sides. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of the foil with a bit of melted butter or oil.
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Break up the chocolate and add to the pan, stirring constantly over a low heat until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, followed by the flour. Finely stir in the chocolate chips if using but do not mix for long or else they will melt into the batter.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the brownies form a light crisp surface and they feel slightly firm to the touch. A skewer inserted should come out with a few sticky crumbs attached, but no molten mixture.
Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature in the tin before using the foil to help you lift the brownies out of the tin. Cut into 12 squares.
Delicious eaten within a few hours when they are very soft, moist and the chocolate chips are still slightly gooey. They turn more fudgy and cake-like the next day.