Rødgrød med Fløde (Danish Red Berry Pudding with Cream)

Ingredients

• 500 g frozen mixed berries
• 250 g strawberry, hulled and halved
• 3 dl water
• 120 g white sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 dl heavy cream, well chilled

Method

1. 1.

   Cook down the berries — Set aside 4 tbsp of the water and 1 tbsp of the sugar. Put the frozen berries, strawberries, the rest of the water, 100 g of the sugar and the lemon juice in a saucepan and bring slowly to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for 8-10 minutes, until the berries have collapsed and the liquid is deep red and syrupy.

2. 2.

   Sieve out seeds and skins — Press the fruit through a coarse sieve into a clean pan, pushing hard with a ladle and scraping the underside so you keep all the pulp and leave only seeds and skins behind. You should have roughly a litre of glossy purée.

3. 3.

   Thicken with cornstarch — Whisk the cornstarch into the reserved 4 tbsp of cold water until there are no lumps. Bring the purée back to a bare simmer, pour in the slurry in a thin stream while whisking hard, and cook for 1 minute only — it should thicken to a glossy sauce that just coats the back of a spoon.

4. 4.

   Stir in the vanilla — Take the pan off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Do not keep cooking it — boiled starch thins out again and the pudding will never set properly.

5. 5.

   Sugar the tops and chill — Pour into four bowls and sprinkle the reserved 1 tbsp sugar evenly over the surfaces — it dissolves as it cools and stops a rubbery skin forming. Chill for at least 3 hours, until cold and just set.

6. 6.

   Pour cream at the table — Serve straight from the fridge and pour a good slug of ice-cold cream over each bowl at the table, so it sits in white swirls on the red rather than being stirred in.