Summer pudding alla edna lewis+

1 recipe

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 quarts Currants, freshly picked
2 pints Raspberries
1½ cup Granulated sugar
12 slices Day old bread, firm but not too heavy left out to dry
5 tablespoons Unsalted butter
½ pint Heavy cream (not ultra pasturized)
2 quart bowl or nonmetalic mold 6 inches deep and 6 inches wide at the top

Directions

EQUIPMENT NEEDED

The bearer of this recipe, Edna Lewis, said she prepared this pudding for a James Beard tribute dinner in New York one year. Mayor Koch had five helpings.

You could use all currants or all raspberries or a combination.

Wash the currants, drain them, then pick off the stiems. Put 2 cups of the picked currants in a nonmetalic 5 quart pot. Crush the fruit to extract the juice, then add the remaining currants. Place the pot over medium heat and simmer for 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from the burner and add 1 pint of the raspberries. When cool, pour the contents of the pot into a sieve and press the berries to remove their seeds and skins. Add sugar to the berry puree and mix well again. Taste and add more sugar if desired.

Cut the crusts off the slices of bread and discard them. Butter the bread lightly on one side. Line the bowl with the bread, the unbuttered side against the bowl, placing a slice on the bottom of the bowl, then some slices around the sides, cutting when needed, to have the bread fit neatly in the bowl. Pour a cup of the currant and raspberry mixture into the bowl and cover with a slice of bread.

Continue alternating puree and bread until the bowl is full. See to it that the bread is well soaked with the berry mixture-the plate should fit just inside of the bowl. Then fill a quart jar to weigh 2 pounds and place it on top of the plate. The weight of the jar will press the juices into the bread and the plate will catch any juice that is pressed out.

Set in the refrigerator overnight. Reserve any extra berry puree.

Unmold the pudding onto a platter, and spoon over the reserved puree.

Serve with lightly whipped cream.

This recipe came from Edna Lewis' In Pursuit of Flavor.

Summer pudding is served in England. I had a luscious serving of it while I was there last year. I recommend it-tastes like sunshine! MM format courtesy Mary Riemerman Submitted By MARY RIEMERMAN On 07-02-95

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