Fresh Berry Pudding
Makes 8 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 cups strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered
- 2 cups blueberries
- 3 cups raspberries
- 1 cup blackberries
- ¾ cup sugar, or to taste
- ½ loaf stale firm-textured white bread, thinly sliced and crusts trimmed
Special Equipment
- plastic wrap
- pudding mold
How-to
- Put the strawberries and blueberries in a large pot and soften them over low heat. As the juices begin to run, gently stir in the remaining berries and sugar
- Heat them only enough to make the mixture runny, not to make a mush. Remove from the stove and taste for sweetness, adding sugar gradually to use only as much as needed. Pour the fruit into a sieve set high over a bowl or pot, reserving all the juices and pulp separately
- Cut the bread to fit a 6-to-8-cup pudding mold or bowl with steep sides. Put a round piece on the bottom and fan-shaped pieces around the sides, fitting them evenly
- One piece at a time, dip both sides of the bread in the reserved juice, then put it back in place. Fill any chinks with leftover bread, so that the bowl is completely lined
- Spoon the fruit solids into the mold almost to the top. Trim any bread that extends over the sides, and cover the top with bread
- Cover the pudding tightly with plastic wrap and set a saucer on top that just fits inside the rim. Place a heavy can on top to weight the pudding and press the juices into the bread. Chill overnight or longer, weighted. Cover and chill the leftover juices in a jar
- To serve, run the tip of a knife around the edge of the pudding, invert the bowl onto a serving platter, and jerk it down once or twice to unmold the pudding (this may take a little patience)
- Paint out any pale spots with the reserved juices; spoon the rest over or around the pudding. A few whole fruits, green leaves still attached, make a pretty garnish, but this is not necessary. Pass heavy cream or lightly whipped cream on the side