Autumn pudding

The pudding is an English specialty that is taking hold in Italy. In its sweet form, the pudding is something which the British love to serve with fresh cream, yoghurt or possibly, in a more Italian interpretation, with a scoop of ice cream. Pudding ingredients are very extensive, often involving all kinds of fruit combined in various ways, with or without spices. This autumn pudding will delight lovers of berries. Today we have also added some apple for a more balanced autumnal touch.

Melt the butter in a pan, add the peeled and cubed apple, and the sugar. Cook for about ten minutes, then add the berries and apple juice. Cook for another 15 minutes. Take a round pudding bowl and butter it well. Line the bowl with slices of a robust bread cut into fairly thin slices, having first removed the crust: take care to cover the inside well, filling in any gaps with pieces of bread cut to the right size - the result should be a bit like a collage. Now fill with the stewed fruit and its juice (there should be quite a lot of juice): using a spoon, try to pour some of the juices down behind the bread as well, so as to ensure the bread becomes well soaked. Place more bread on the top of the fruit so as to cover and seal the pudding, then place a saucer on this 'lid' of bread and weigh it down with a heavy item - a bag of sugar for example. Put the pudding and weight in the fridge for one night. The next day remove the saucer, turn the pudding bowl upside down on a larger plate, and gently remove the bowl. Serve.