I’m guessing that the culinary version of “you can’t tell a book by its cover” must be “you can’t tell a dish by its ingredients.”
Summer Pudding is a vivid example of that adage.
Basically, this classic British dessert, is just white sandwich bread and berries. Squished into a dome-shaped mold and refrigerated overnight. To me, it sounds bland and boring.
But in the hands of Joe Burns, pastry chef at Whisknladle in La Jolla, it’s a triumph.
Typically, the pudding is made by lining the bottom and sides of a mold with firm white sandwich bread. Raspberries and red currants (a big favorite with Brits) are cooked for about 15 minutes with some lemon juice and sugar. The fruit mixture is then plunked in the middle of the mold; some bread is place on top; and the whole concoction is weighted down with a heavy plate and refrigerated overnight. The bread soaks up the fruit juices, and bingo, you have a rosy red hemisphere on a plate the next day. (This photo and a recipe are on David Lebovitz' Web site, "Living the Sweet Life in Paris.")
Happily for those of us dining at Whisknladle these days (the eatery was voted a Hot Table of 2008 by Conde Nast Traveler), chef Burns has some of his own ideas on the subject.
For starters, he uses a semolina bread that is made at the restaurant each day. Then he lightly cooks a mixture of blueberries, black berries, raspberries and strawberries with a bit of sugar, lemon juice and Grand Marnier. He purees the fruits to make a sauce.
To prepare the mold, he first places a sheen of sauce in the bottom, then a thin slice of bread, then sauce again, then a heap of fresh berries. The ritual goes on – sauce, bread, fresh berries, sauce, bread, fresh berries – for six layers. It’s then weighted down and refrigerated for about 24 hours.
The result is an unforgettable dessert, with intense summer fruit flavor and a silken texture.
Home cooks can get creative with summer puddings, using whatever fruit looks good at the farmers market; spiking the cooked fruits with Port or liqueur; and subbing challah or brioche for the sandwich bread.
Chef Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar and Grill in New York City is another master of this seasonal dessert. Portale, who
was named Most Outstanding Chef in the nation by the James Beard Foundation in 2006, uses red or black plums instead of berries, pound cake instead of white bread, and gingersnap cookie crumbs for added textural interest and tang. Here’s his recipe from “Alfred Portale Simple Pleasures,” published in 2004.
SUMMER PLUM PUDDING
Serves 6
3 pounds red or black plums
1 cup sugar, plus more for sweetening the crème fraiche
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, more if needed
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier, more if needed
¾ cup gingersnap cookie crumbs
Canola oil
1 small, high-quality, store-bought pound cake, approx. 12 ounces
Crème fraiche
Prepare the plum filling. Halve each plum, twist the halves apart, and remove the pit. Cut the plums into 1-inch pieces. Put the plums in a heavy-bottomed sauc3pan, and add the 1 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Set over medium-low heat and stew, covered, stirring occasionally, until the plums are just cooked through and have released their juices, about 15 minutes. Taste, and add more sugar and lemon juice if necessary.
Add the 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier and strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Reserve the liquid (this will become the sauce). Put the strained plums in a bowl and gently stir in the cookie crumbs, leaving out a tablespoon or two for garnish.
Prepare the mold. Lightly oil a 6-cup mold or bowl with canola oil. Remove and discard the dark edges of the pound cake. Cut the cake lengthwise into ¼ inch thick slices. Use the slices to line the bowl, starting with the bottom and cutting the slices to fit the sides. Spoon the plums into the mold and tap the bowl lightly to settle them. Finish with a layer of cake over the plums.
Cover with a plate that fits just inside the rim of the bowl, and place a light weight (such as a can) on top. Refrigerate, weighted, for at least 4 to 5 hours, or overnight. Put the sauce in an airtight container and refrigerate as well.
To serve, unmold the cake onto the center of a large dessert plate. Taste the reserved sauce and add more Grand Marnier or lemon juice if needed. Transfer some of the sauce to a small bowl and use it to brush the outside of the pudding, creating a beautiful rich, deep red coat and allowing it to pool around the pudding on the plate.
Serve each slice garnished with lightly sweetened crème fraiche, extra sauce and a dusting of the reserved cookie crumbs.