Any-Berry Summer Pudding

Once in a while, you find you have too much of a good thing. That happened to me a couple weeks ago, with berries. The CSA gave me beautiful strawberries, Sunflower Market had blackberries and raspberries on sale and blueberries REALLY on sale, and my favorite purveyor of unusual items at the Growers’ Market was selling black currants by the cup. My refrigerator was packed with beautiful fruit.

At a time like that, there’s only one thing to do – make Summer Pudding.

Summer pudding is a very simple English dessert, manna for berry lovers. It’s simply lightly sweetened, gently cooked berries held together by bread. You can use one berry or a combination. I used, as you’ll guess from my comments above, a combination. I suspect you could add in some other fruit, like peaches or plums, but I’ve never tried it. (If you do, let me know!)

The dish’s essential simplicity allows room to play around. Since I seem to collect fruity liqueurs that I rarely get a chance to use, I spiked mine with a little Cointreau (orange), Chambord (raspberry), and kirsch (cherry). A dash of balsamic vinegar is a nice way to make berries taste more like themselves (tomatoes, too), and would be great here.

Nothing about the recipe is complicated, but it does involve a little pleasant puttering as you layer in the berries and pieces of bread. Also, it must rest in the refrigerator, pressed with weights, for at least 8 hours before serving – the pressing allows it to mold into shape – so plan ahead! This is not a last-minute undertaking.

Any-Berry Summer Pudding

Serves: 4 Time: 30 minutes hands-on plus 8 hours hands-off

Gather together 1.5 pounds of berries, 1/4 cup sugar (or to taste, depending on the sweetness of your berries), and a 1-pound loaf of bread (or, for a sweeter version, the same amount of pound cake). That’s all you need, except for some whipped cream to top it with. Clean the berries. Raspberries, blueberries, etc. can be left whole, but strawberries should be sliced. Place in a medium saucepan with the sugar and 1/4 cup water, and place over medium-low heat. Cook, giving an occasional gentle stir, for about 10 minutes. You want the berries to soften and give up their liquid. When they have done so, turn off the heat.

During this time, add any flavorings that catch your fancy, but remember you want them to enhance rather than cover the flavor of the berries. This dish is all about celebrating that beautiful fruit! Though, that said, if you don’t have quite enough, you can supplement with frozen berries.

Line a medium (2-quart) glass bowl or similar dish with plastic wrap. Cut the crusts from the bread (or thinly slice the pound cake) and line the dish with it, cutting and tearing the bread to fit. Ladle in half of the berries, top with a layer of bread, and finish with the rest of the berries and a final layer of bread. The top now will be the bottom later, so if there’s not quite enough bread for the final layer, no one will ever know. If there’s bread left over, that’s fine.

Cover the pudding with plastic wrap. Place a plate on top and weight with cans, a brick, whatever – you want the plate to press firmly on the pudding. Place in the fridge and try not to think about it for at least 8 hours, because you can’t have it yet!

When you’re ready to serve the pudding, remove the top layer of plastic, place the bowl upside down on a plate, and use the bottom (now top) layer of plastic to help the pudding release from the bowl. It should come out in one piece. If it doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world; honestly, the finished product can look slightly Frankensteinian anyway. It’s meant to be homey! Besides, now you’re going to smother it in whipped cream, homemade or from a can.

Present the whole thing at the table, for dessert or a delightful breakfast. Serve it up into bowls with a spatula or a big spoon, and delight in the bounty of summer.

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