Summer Recipes from the Blue Ball:

Summer Dessert Plate

By mid-July, if we have had anything like a run of sunshine, we should be up to our ears in soft fruits. English strawberries, currants and raspberries won’t be here for much longer though, and it will be a whole year before we see them again, so for one final splurge today’s recipe is three desserts in one: Summer Fruit Pudding, Pimm’s No.1 Jelly and Raspberry Parfait, which we serve in the pub as a “Summer Pudding Plate”.

Each dessert can be made in miniature sized ring moulds (my choice), little tea or coffee cups or glasses, and any size you wish. Heck, any one of them could be made as a single dessert! Doing all three may seem over-complicated but they can be prepared well in advance: the parfait will freeze indefinitely, the pudding needs at least an overnight pressing and the jelly can be made first thing in the morning and be ready for dinner. Don’t be scared. Ingredients (serves 4 to 8 , depending on the size of your moulds)

Summer Pudding:
1kg mixed fruits - such as raspberries, blueberries, redcurrants, blackberries and strawberries – picked and washed
100g caster sugar
4 tbsp Crème de Cassis (or water)
1 large white loaf, thinly sliced

1. Toss the fruits, cassis and sugar together in a large, non stick frying pan. Place over a medium heat and warm until the fruits begin to weep their juices. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes then strain through a non metallic strainer set over a large bowl to catch the juices.
2. Traditionally, a summer pudding is completely encased in bread which gives an awful lot of bread and lot a lot of fruit so here we are going to be layering our puddings, like little gateaux. As the fruit cools line your chosen mould with clingfilm and sit on a non-metallic tray then cut discs of bread big enough to sit snuggly inside.
3. Dip a bread disc in the fruit juice and place in the bottom of your mould, then half fill with fruits. Dip a second bread disc and place on top, fill the moulds until the fruit "domes" above the rim then add a third and final dipped bread disc.
4. Cover with cling film, place a second tray on top along with some weight (a bag of sugar is ideal). Place in the fridge and press overnight.

Pimm’s No. 1 Jelly:
¾ pint of lemonade
150ml Pimm’s No.1
100g sugar
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of ½ lemon
8 mint leaves, shredded
4 leaves of gelatine – soak in cold water to soften, then drain and squeeze to remove excess liquid
200g of strawberries – picked, washed and quartered

1. Place the lemonade, juices, mint and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Do not boil. Remove from the heat, add the gelatine and stir until dissolved.
2. Split the strawberries between small plastic pudding moulds, teacups or glasses, half fill with jelly then chill to set. Top off with more jelly and return to the fridge. This two step process will cleverly “suspend” the fruit in the middle of the jelly. This can be done well in advance.

Raspberry Parfait:
1 pint raspberry puree
4 leaves of gelatine – soak in cold water to soften, drain and squeeze to remove excess liquid, then dissolve in a few tblspns of hot water
350g of castor sugar
6 egg whites
3 oz framboise (raspberry liqueur)
¾ pint of double cream

1. Whip the egg whites and sugar to a stiff meringue
2. Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks
3. Whisk the dissolved gelatine into the puree with the framboise, then carefully fold in the whipped cream followed by the meringue.
4. Spoon the mixture into a loaf tin or straight-sided tray lined with cling film and freeze overnight.
This can be made days or even weeks in advance.

To serve:
Turn a summer pudding out into the center of a large serving plate. Dip a jelly in hot water for 2 seconds and turn out alongside, then cut the parfait into any shape you like and sit alongside that. If you are going to be serving the ultimate summer dessert you may as well go completely OTT… scatter the plate with extra berries and serve with double cream, clotted cream and vanilla ice cream. Enjoy. Monthly recipe as featured in Fiveways magazine. Back to recipes.