Recipe: Simon Gault’s Christmas Berry Pudding


This scrumptious alternative to traditional trifle is made with mascarpone, limoncello, brandy sauce and heaps of berries.

Recipe: Extract from Summer with Simon Gault

This is a stunner — it’s a perfect summertime Christmas Day pudding. It features my famous Rum Sauce; if you’re not so keen on rum, swap it out for brandy.

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS

9 punnets mixed fresh berries (loganberries, boysenberries, raspberries)
½ cup limoncello (try making it from scratch with this recipe)
Simon’s Rum (or Brandy) Sauce (see below)
400g mascarpone
200g crème fraiche
1 packet savoiardi biscuits
extra berries, to garnish

METHOD

Place 2 cups of the berries in a blender and purée. Pour the purée into a large flat dish and add the limoncello to thin the purée. Set aside.

In a bowl, fold together the Rum (or Brandy) Sauce, mascarpone and crème fraîche until combined.

Take a large, high-sided glass serving bowl and spread a layer of the rum sauce mix across the base. Then add a layer of fresh berries, then another layer of the rum sauce mix, then more berries.

Dip a savoiardi biscuit into the berry purée and place on top of the berries. Repeat until the berries are covered. Finish with another layer of the remaining rum sauce mix. Garnish the top with extra fresh berries.

Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Simon’s Rum (or Brandy) Sauce

INGREDIENTS

1 cup cream
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp dark rum or brandy
bowl of ice
½ cup cream, whipped to soft peaks

METHOD

In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup cream until small bubbles appear.

In a separate glass bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy.

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Pour the cream over the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Return this to the saucepan and cook over a very low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce coats the back of the spoon (or it reaches 82°C). Add the rum or brandy.

Cool the pan in a bowl of ice and once chilled fold in the whipped cream.


Extracted from Summer with Simon Gault, Penguin Random House NZ, RRP $50. Text © Simon Gault, 2019. Photography © Vanessa Lewis, 2019

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