‘This is exactly my kind of recipe: seasonal berries cooked gently and made sparky with a touch of cassis, then folded into a kind of panna cotta base to create a wonderfully English set blackcurrant cream. It makes for a really delicious dinner-party pudding, or a great end to a weekend lunch. If you’re feeling romantic, you could even make half the quantity and pour it into heart-shaped moulds for the love of your life’
Blackcurrant cream
Extract from Valentine Warner’s
What to Eat Now: Spring and Summer
Published by Mitchell Beazley
What on earth possessed me to include this, I don’t know. I cannot take this pudding seriously it just gives me the giggles. Nonetheless, this mad, wobbling breast of a thing is delicious.
Ingredients
500g fresh blackcurrants, plus a handful to decorate
100g caster sugar, plus extra if needed
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons crème de cassis
6 sheets of gelatine (12g)
350ml double cream, plus extra to serve
350ml whole milk
Method
Strip the blackcurrants from their stalks with a fork and put in a saucepan with the sugar and water. Cook gently for 10 minutes or until well softened, stirring often. Remove from the heat and press the berries through a fine sieve to make a smooth purée. You should end up with about 300ml. Stir in the cassis and set aside.
Put the gelatine sheets in a bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside for 5 minutes to soften. Heat the cream and milk in a saucepan until it almost comes to a simmer, and immediately remove from the heat. Lift the gelatine sheets from their bath and squeeze out the excess water. Plop the gelatine into the cream, stirring until it dissolves into the warm liquid.
Rinse a 1-litre jelly mould or basin with cold water. Stir the cream into the puréed blackcurrants until smooth and sweeten with a little extra sugar if you feel it needs it. Pour carefully into the mould. Cover with clingfilm and chill for 7-8 hours until set.
To serve, remove the clingfilm and dip the mould into a large bowl of just-boiled water until it reaches nearly all the way up the sides. Count slowly to 5, then lift out and press your fingertips around the edge of the cream to break the seal. Invert directly on to a serving plate. Give the mould a hard downwards jerk and the pudding should release itself with a satisfying slurp. If not, repeat the process. Take care not to leave the mould in hot water for too long or you’ll end up with a melted blob.
Serve decorated with fresh blackcurrants-and some leaves too, should you have them. Add a dribble of cream.
