Recipe by Tom Hunt
Summer Pudding with Grappa Macerated Strawberries
“An all-time favourite of mine and so quick to make. I like to experiment with different fillings and fruits. This is best made the day before you want it, so the bread can soak up the juices and set.”
Taken from The Natural Cook by Tom Hunt (Quadrille, £20)
Photography by Laura Edwards
Photography by Simon Wheeler
Ingredients
Serves 4–6
- 1 quantity macerated strawberries with grappa (see right)
- 200g mixed summer fruits (not strawberries), such as raspberries, red currants, cherries or blackberries
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 50g raw local honey, or to taste
- 4–6 x 1cm-thick slices of sourdough or good white bread, crusts removed
Macerated strawberries with grappa – Serves 2
- 300g strawberries, 2 tbsp grappa, 1 heaped tsp
- rapadura or raw cane sug
Method
Put the strawberries in a saucepan with the other fruits. Add the lemon juice, honey and 50ml water, taste and add more honey if you would like it sweeter.
Bring the fruits to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for two minutes.
Line a one-litre pudding basin with the slices of bread: place a disk of bread in the bottom, then run pieces up the sides, overlapping them slightly. Press the joins together to seal them, using a dab of water to help.
Fill the bread case with the summer fruits, reserving a few tablespoons of the juice. Cover the top with a circle of bread and seal it to the pudding’s ‘walls’. Place a small plate on top and put a weight on that; I use my mortar and pestle, but anything clean and heavy will do.
Put it in the fridge.
The next day, carefully turn the pudding out on to a plate. Use the reserved juices to paint over the top to freshen it up and cover any white areas.
Serve with plenty of fresh cream.
The pudding will keep in its pudding basin in the fridge for four days
Macerated Strawberries with Grappa
Pull off and discard the green tops of the strawberries. Halve the berries and put them in a bowl with the grappa and sugar.
Turn carefully and allow to macerate in the fridge for 30 minutes, so all the juices begin to seep out and the strawberries soften.
Turn now and again to re-cover them with the grappa juices.
Serve in glasses with cream or crème fraîche.
