England: Meal #11

This week's meal was based off of two sources "Cooking the English Way" by Barbara W. Hill and essentially-england.com.





Shepherds Pie





Summer Pudding...



served with Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate ice cream



I kindof went back and forth between two recipes for my Summer Pudding and used a different type of bread besides white. This is the recipe for Summer Pudding, along with fruit suggestions, from essentially-england.com.

Strawberries, raspberries, currants and blackberries all make a goodly pudding. Morello cherries - without the stones- are a favourite of mine. Mix them to your heart's and garden's content. Just don't be stingy.

To fill a 1 litre pudding basin or bowl, you'll need approximately the following:

•6-8 slices of white bread, crusts off
•700g-800g (around 4 cups) of red fruits - these can be fresh or frozen, and any mix that pleases you
•Sugar to taste


Assembly


Wash all the fruit and cut any extra-large strawberries into manageable pieces.

Place the fruit in a large pan and heat gently until the juices run.

Slice the bread, trim the crusts off and use them to closely line a greased pudding basin or glass bowl.

Keep a slice for the top.

Taste your fruit and add the sugar if they seem to need it. You want lots of fragrant juices and a good balance between sweetness and tartness.

Pour the fruit and juice into the lined pudding basin to about 1cm / 1.5in from the upper edge of the bread.

Place the last slice of bread on top and press down gently to seal the fruit in its casket of bread.

Stand the pudding basin on a large plate.

Leave for a little while for the bread to absorb some of the juice before placing a weighted plate on top of the pudding. (You'll end up with lots of the juice on the plate rather than in the pudding if you do this too soon.)

Then place the pudding and plates in the fridge and leave alone for at least six hours!

When ready to serve, unmold the pudding and cut into slices. Drizzle with thick cream and enjoy.