BUTTERMILK PUDDING WITH SEA BUCKTHORN

Prep time: 40 minutes plus 2-3 hours setting time

Serves 4

Sea buckthorn is a great and versatile fruit that has all sorts of health benefits, including lowering cholesterol. It’s one of our great British superfoods and is in season in autumn, although you may well have never seen the bright-orange-berried bush, or have mistaken it for a decorative or poisonous plant.

The good news is that it freezes perfectly and is available all the year round from the British Sea Buckthorn Company, which is based in Essex (british seabuckthorn.com).

We use the berries a lot in both sweet and savoury dishes – they work particularly well in a game salad or sauce – and I’m never without a few in my freezer. Alternatively you can use other wild berries that you’ve picked in season.

INGREDIENTS

– 9g leaf gelatin (3 sheets)

– 300ml double cream

– 50g caster sugar

– 400g buttermilk

For the sea buckthorn sauce

– 100ml orange juice

– 100g caster sugar

– 70g sea buckthorn berries

– 2 tsp cornflour, diluted in a little cold water

METHOD

Soak the gelatin in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes until soft, then squeeze out the excess water.

Bring 100ml of the cream to the boil with the sugar, then remove from the heat and stir in the gelatin until dissolved. Next, whisk in the rest of the cream and the buttermilk.

Pour into moulds or coffee cups and leave to set in the fridge for 2-3 hours or overnight.

Meanwhile make the sauce: bring the orange juice, 100ml water, the sugar and half the sea buckthorn to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes, then stir in enough of the cornflour to make a thick sauce and continue to simmer for a couple of minutes.

Strain the sauce through a fine-meshed sieve, pushing the berries through with the back of a spoon. Return the sauce to the pan, add the rest of the sea buckthorn berries and bring back to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

To serve, if turning out, dip the moulds briefly into a bowl of boiling water, for 10 seconds or so, and carefully turn out on to cold serving plates then spoon the sauce around. Alternatively, serve in the cups with sauce on the side.