Nigel Slater’s kitchen diary: apple bread and butter pudding

We get our jollies where we can. Small moments of innocent pleasures to brighten the short, dark month that is February. There have been some memorable plates this week. A salad of blood oranges and ice-crisp fennel eaten under a light grey sky. The sight of ivory white hellebores against the damp winter soil. The purple juice of pomegranates with snowy burrata on a pale plate or a bowl of glowing rhubarb crumble hot from the oven. There are currently pots of white narcissi on the kitchen windowsill, and in the garden, tubs of young fennel fronds braving the cold and wet like true heroes. The fennel brought crisp, clean aniseed notes to a dish of red mullet.

I refuse to be depressed by this famously dreary month. There are too many good things on which to focus. The citrus fruits bring their own sunshine. Tight-skinned clementines to add to salads of red cabbage and roasted, salted almonds. A sorbet of berry-red blood orange and a lemon tart sour enough to blow your socks off. Scallops that have been marinated with lime juice and grated ginger. Pink grapefruit juice for seasoning prawns or a tiny pot of posset made from lemon and yuzu. And if the sight of a bowl of lemons complete with leaves doesn’t cheer us, the promise of a plate of lemon madeleines should.

I use citrus juice – lemon, blood orange or lime – when dressing a winter salad. Orange juice, honey and olive oil for shredded white cabbage; blood orange and thyme for dressing frisée and pan-fired chicken livers or lime juice, soy sauce and groundnut oil to toss with shredded pak choi and slivers of red chilli. Blood orange is sweeter than other varieties, add a shot of lemon juice to increase its vibrancy. There has barely been a dinner this week where some form of citrus fruit hasn’t worked its magic.

There are still plenty of locally grown apples around in fine condition. I like to core and roughly chop them, then simmer them to the point of collapse with a splash of cider vinegar, a pinch of cloves and a knife point of ground cinnamon. Stored in the fridge, the mixture of stewed fruit and scarlet skin comes in handy with bread and cheese, cold pork and smoked fish. I mixed apples, sliced and caramelised with a little sugar, into a bread and butter pudding this week, the custard scented with cardamom and the top crunchy with demerara. We ate it both for pudding and a rather hearty breakfast the following day.

There has been some fine fish about this week, too, including some of the best mackerel I have seen for a while. As well as grilling the fillets, I have taken to baking whole fish in a searingly hot oven until the skin starts to crisp. Cooked this way, they need little more than lemon juice and salt as seasoning. Try them with a basting of blood orange juice and grain mustard.

Now is the perfect time for mussels. I have only cooked them once this year, steaming them then pulling the mussels from their shells. Tossed with peeled cucumber and tufts of dill and dressed with a mixture of olive oil, white wine vinegar and a touch of the mussels’ own cooking liquor. A sharp and salty seasoning for a grey winter’s day.

Apple bread and butter pudding

Serves 6. Ready in about an hour.

Any form of baked custard will be better if you let it settle for a few minutes after it comes from the oven. This pudding is good both warm and cold – I also like it very much the next day. At the risk of gilding the lily, a jug of cream is a fine accompaniment.

green cardamom pods 6
dessert apples 400g
butter 40g
caster sugar 25g
brioche 350g
sultanas 50g
candied peel 3 tbsp
orange 1
demerara sugar 1 tbsp

For the custard:
eggs 4
double cream 500ml
full-fat milk 125ml
caster sugar 50g
vanilla extract 1 tsp

You will also need a 2-litre baking dish.

Crack open the cardamom pods, remove the small black-brown seeds and grind them to a fine powder. You can use a pestle and mortar or spice mill. Cut the apples into quarters and remove the cores, then slice each into 2 or 3 segments.

In a shallow pan, melt the butter, then add the apples in a single layer, letting them darken to a pale golden colour. (You may need to do this in 2 batches, depending on the size of your pan.) Turn them over as they colour. When the apples are approaching softness, sprinkle the sugar and ground cardamom over them. Let the sugar melt and lightly caramelise, then remove from the heat.

Set the oven at 160C/gas mark 3.

For the custard, break the eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat lightly until the whites and yolks are well mixed. Pour in the cream and milk and stir in the caster sugar and vanilla extract, then beat everything lightly together with a whisk.

Tear the brioche into large pieces and place in the baking dish. Finely grate the orange zest. Scatter the sultanas, candied peel and grated orange among the brioche. Pour the custard into the dish, pressing the brioche down with the back of the spoon until thoroughly soaked, then add the apples and their caramel.

Dust the demerara sugar over the surface, then bake for 40-45 minutes until lightly set. To check the pudding is ready, shake the dish – the custard should quiver in the middle. Take it from the oven and leave to settle for 15 minutes before serving.