Bread pudding

A friend of mine just asked if I have a recipe for bread pudding, although I have made lots of bread and butter puddings in my life, I’ve never made a bread pudding. Curious to find out more, I turned to my trusty “Mrs Beeton’s Everyday Cookery’ (an absolute gem of a cookery book and the basis for many an economical delicious dish) and here follows the recipe…. A great way of using up any remnants of bread..

Bread pudding, baked.

Ingredients:
8oz of stale bread
4oz of raisins or currents
2oz of finely shredded suet (you can get vegi versions of suet, or I’m guessing you could use butter)
2oz of sugar
1 egg
a little milk
a good pinch of nutmeg

Method:

Break the bread into small pieces, cover them with cold water, soak for half an hour, then strain and squeeze dry. Beat out all the lumps with a fork, and stir in the sugar, suet, raisins, nutmeg and mix well. Add the egg, previously beaten, and as much milk as necessary to make the mixture moist enough to drop readily from the spoon. Pour into a greased pie-dish and bake gently for about 1 hour. When done, turn out on to a dish, and dredge well with sugar. Sufficient for about 5 or 6 people.

Today’s illustration ‘toast’ © Lois Blackburn, please visit www.loisblackburn.co.uk to see more work.

Liver and Bacon

You maybe put off this one by memories of thick, rubbery slabs of meat, force fed to you as a child. However, when fresh liver is sliced thinly and cooked quickly in butter, served with crispy bacon and its own tasty juices, its truly delicious. I urge you to try it. Plus of course it’s very economical! This version is based on my bible, Mrs Beaton’s Every-day Cooking.

Ingredients: 1lb of liver (I like lambs for this recipe) Half a lb of bacon cut into small pieces, flour, salt and pepper.

Method: put the liver into a basin and cover with boiling water, leave it there for 10 mins. Then drain, dry well and cut into thin slices. Season with 1tbs of flour and 1tsp of salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Dip the liver into the mixture. Heat the frying pan, fry the bacon, then remove to a hot dish until required. Fry the liver in the fat of the bacon, but quickly so that its browned on both sides but not over cooked. Transfer to a hot dish. Sprinkle in about a tbs of flour, let it brown, then add about half a pint of water, stir until it boils, thickens and reduces, then strain over the liver. Arrange the bacon on the top and serve hot.

Oh and liver is a fantastic source of Iron, Vitamin A, (essential for healthy skin and eyes) Vitamin B2 (promotes good health and is necessary for maintaining good vision, nails, skin and hair) Vitamin B3 (improves cirulation and reduces high blood pressure) and B12 (prevents anaemia) and of Vitamin D…

Today’s illustration is a monoprint ‘sheep’ © Lois Blackburn. Please visit http://www.loisblackburn.co.uk/ for more images.