I’m sitting at the dining room table looking at a bowl filled with an overabundance of fresh, local summer fruit. I think to myself,
“Those peaches and blueberries would make a great combination for tonight’s dessert.”
My mom is coming over. We haven’t seen her since we went on holidays last week and it’ll be a good chance to catch up and plan for next week’s activities. My first thought is baked crumble with oats and cinnamon but I dread having the oven on in this heat. Yesterday it was 36°C. My second thought is summer pudding. I’ve never made it before and want to add it to my repertoire of fantastic desserts. I consult my library of over 125 cookbooks.
I rarely follow a recipe to the “T”. Rather, I haul out several select books based on what I’m looking for and hand pick the best bits for my own version. The British have a way with pudding so I decide on Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Dinners, Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course and Zoë Camrass’ The Essential Cookbook. Jamie’s book comes up nil, which surprises me but Delia and Zoë both have Summer Pudding recipes under cold desserts.
Both recipes call for a combination of red and black currants which can be hard to find and raspberries or mixed berries. Both also say that the pudding needs to set overnight.
Well, it’s eight hours until dinner and I think to myself, “I’ll ride the edge and go for it! Those peaches and blueberries are calling me to do something with them.” So it’s decided. Summer Pudding with Okanagan Peaches and Coast Blueberries is best today.
As I slice the crust off a loaf of bread my daughter Athena comes to see what I’m up to.
“Summer Pudding,” I say.
“Oh, can I help?” she replies as she grabs a handful of bread crusts to eat.
“Of course!” I never refuse help in the kitchen from my children.
I slice the bread, put it aside and pop the blueberries and sugar into the saucepan. Next the peaches. They’re firm enough to peel with a sharp paring knife and the work goes quickly. I soon realize these aren’t free-stone peaches and the flesh needs to be pried away from the pit. In these delicate situations a recurring fantasy about jabbing the knife into the palm of my hand runs through my head. It doesn’t happen. Peeled, pitted and chopped the peaches go in the pan too.
Athena and I butter a 1.5 litre pudding bowl and line it with the bread slices. We discover the bread slices fit together better when we cut them in half to make triangles. The fruit and sugar are soon a bubbling syrupy sauce that scents the whole kitchen. We spoon the fruit and syrup into the mold reserving some of the juice for later. We top the pudding with more bread, put a small plate on the surface, weigh it down with some heavy jars and place it in the fridge. Now we wait.
Around lunch I check the pudding’s progress. The fruit juice and syrup are staining the bread a beautiful purple blue colour. The pudding goes back into the fridge while I prepare the evening’s main meal of Montreal smoked meat, herb potatoes, beet and feta salad and coleslaw.
I forget about the pudding at the same time we stuff ourselves on the summer bounty of veggies, herbs, crackers, beef and condiments. Just when I think I want another helping I remember the pudding! Everyone’s breath is held in anticipation.
I think to myself, “Will the pudding pop out or will it stick and be a struggle?”
After a little jiggling the dessert slides out of it’s mold onto the serving plate. It looks fabulous! That purple blue colour runs throughout the dessert. I spoon the reserved juice over the bread and admire the beauty of a dessert made with the freshest ingredients and love.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Tomato soup is another of my favorite childhood recipes. Being a child of the 70′s my mom often served convenience foods like Campbell’s or Lipton’s soup. I loved the creamy tangy taste of Campbell’s tomato soup and today I want to prepare a genuine version that is as rich in texture and flavour as the store bought version.
