Summery Fruit Pudding



This traditional English-Irish fruit pudding is made by lining a deep dish with quality egg bread, and then filling it with lightly-cooked summer berries. The pudding is then weighted and refrigerated overnight so that the berries and bread can amalgamate, making the pudding solid enough to turn out onto a plate... This colorful pudding is sweet, spongy, moist, and wonderfully fresh tasting!

Ingredients:

♥  1 cup sugar
♥  3 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice
♥  Heavy or light cream
♥   1 pound of egg bread (1 1/2 to 2 pounds if the loaves are braided)
♥   1 pint sliced strawberries
♥  12 ounces frozen unsweetened dry-pack strawberries, thawed
♥   1 pint blueberries, or 12 ounces frozen unsweetened dry-pack blueberries, thawed
♥   1 pint raspberries, or 12 ounces frozen unsweetened dry-pack raspberries, thawed


Directions - Summer Fruit Pudding:

For this recipe any combination of berries will work, so long as the total amount comes to 6 cups. Frozen berries work well here.

Snugly line a 1 1/2-quart soufflé dish or other cylindrical mold with plastic wrap.

Cut egg bread into 3/8-inch thick slices. Remove and discard the crusts. Cover the bottom of the mold with bread slices trimmed to fit. Line the sides of the mold with bread slices, slightly overlapping. Trim enough additional bread to make 2 layers inside the pudding and a final layer on top. Your goal is to completely and thoroughly line the pudding mold with bread.

In a large saucepan combine strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, sugar, and strained lemon juice. Stir gently over medium heat until the mixture come to a simmer and the berries begin to release their juices. Remove from heat.

Spoon one-third of the berries into the bread-lined pudding mold. Cover with a layer of bread. Repeat this process twice with remaining fruit and bread so that you have 3 layers. Make sure you end with a final layer of bread on the very top.

Press plastic wrap over the fruit pudding, then cover with a cake pan, that just fits inside the mold. Set a 2 pound weight on top of the pan and refrigerate pudding for at least 12-24 hours. Make sure that the weight is resting on the pudding itself and not on the sides of the pudding mold. You want to press this fruit pudding as is chills.

Once chilled, remove the weight and pan. Remove the top layers of plastic wrap. Invert the fruit pudding onto a serving plate, and gently peel off the remaining plastic wrap.

To serve cut the pudding with a wide shallow spoon. Serve with heavy or light cream.

Recipe yields 6 servings of summer pudding.