MAKE MINE A RASPBERRY - Frozen raspberry and nut crumb pudding

I simply adore this time of year and the berries that come with it – sometimes I’m surprised to end a summer intact instead of a mixed berry version of Violet Beauregarde being hauled off by the Ooompa Loompas after berry overload. I am a serious raspberry girl, plop me down in front of a movie with a punnet of raspberries and I am one happy camper. (The luxury of a house kind of happy camper, not in a tent).

We’re especially lucky here in Christchurch with some sensational berry farms. The great thing of course is the simplicity of dessert, a bowl of mixed berries and a good dousing of icing sugar is the sublime end to a shared dinner.

However my children lead me to believe that you can have too much of the simple berry dessert and encourage me to incorporate them in other ways. Summer pudding is an obvious one for starters and is a popular wedding dessert in this season at White Tie. We often make a Summer pud in a terrine then pour over a champagne jelly to set it. It looks beautiful when sliced and the champagne jelly just helps round off the intensity of the berries.

Eton Mess is still a fantastic dessert, we used some leftovers to make it as a quick treat at family dinner on Sunday night – berries, whipped cream and broken meringues mixed together and served in a glass. Or you could soften a tub (homemade if you prefer) of vanilla ice cream and stir through raspberries before freezing it through a little to make an easy semi freddo – add praline or nuts for another layer of texture.

But there is one supreme category winner in our house – a frozen raspberry dessert introduced to the family by my sister in law Adele Ryan. Dellie’s Raspberry and Nut Crumb pudding is so delicious it was our Christmas dinner dessert this year. The recipe also makes two, so you serve one and then have another stashed away in the freezer, utter brilliance.

It’s also wonderfully versatile, it makes two large pudding bowls or you can make little individual puddings, or a terrine tin. I’ve made individual puds using small cups lined with cling film, turned them out and covered them in Italian meringue and browned them with a blow torch for a great version of a Baked Alaska. Or you could even stir the crumb through the raspberry mixture half way through freezing for a softer spooned dessert.

Anyway, I’m sure Dellie won’t mind if I share this with you. Cook it & Love it.

FROZEN RASPBERRY AND NUT CRUMB PUDDING

BISCUIT CRUMB

150g plain flour

50g each walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds

75g brown sugar

100g melted butter

Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift flour into a bowl and add remaining ingredients. Mix well to thoroughly combine and spread evenly over the base of a baking paper lined sponge roll tin. Bake 20 minutes, remove from oven and cool. Break into crumbs with fingers.

RASPBERRY MERINGUE

2 egg whites

2 tablespoons lemon juice

450g fresh raspberries (or frozen, thaw but don’t drain, use juice and all)

225g caster sugar

300ml cream

Combine egg whites, juice and most of the raspberries in mixer bowl. Begin whisking and gradually whisk in sugar. Beat at high speed for 10 minutes until mixture forms stiff peaks. Beat cream until stiff and fold into raspberry meringue with remaining raspberries. Beginning and ending with raspberry mixture, layer in a pudding bowl with the biscuit crumbs. Freeze.