Rick Stein’s Apple Charlotte
Autumn means apples and we couldn't think of a better way to make the most of them than in this recipe for a buttery apple Charlotte pudding from Rick Stein.
From the book
Rick Stein at Home: Recipes, Memories and Stories from a Food Lover’s Kitchen
Join Rick as he celebrates the joy of home cooking with over 100 new recipes
From sumptuous main courses to decadent desserts, there is food for any mood
Learn how to utilise local produce to create bold flavours and memorable meals
Introduction
I’ve mentioned the television series that I recently filmed in Cornwall often in this book, mainly because most of the recipes in the programmes are for dishes I cook at home a lot. The runaway success of the series was this apple Charlotte, which I cooked in an orchard at Tresillian House, near Newquay. It’s a very special recipe – my mother’s and one of her favourites.
Ingredients
| 125g | butter |
| 350g | Bramley apples |
| 350g | Cox's apples |
| 2 tbsp | sugar |
| A little | grated lemon zest, to taste |
| 6 - 8 | slices white bread, about 5mm thick, crusts removed |
| custard, clotted cream or ice cream, to serve |
Essential kit
You will need: a pudding basin.
Method
Grease a pudding basin, about 15cm in diameter and 10cm deep, with plenty of the butter. Peel, core and finely slice the apples. Rinse in cold water and put them in a saucepan with the sugar, lemon zest and 30g of the butter. Cook to a pulp over a low heat and then beat to a purée with a wooden spoon. Allow to cool. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C.
Melt the remaining butter. Dip each slice of bread into the butter and then line a pudding basin with about three-quarters of the slices. Pack them in tightly and don’t leave any gaps. Spoon in the cooled apple purée and cover with the remaining buttered pieces of bread and gently push down.
Tightly cover the pudding with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 8–10 minutes until the top is golden brown. Leave the pudding to rest for 5 minutes before turning out on to a serving plate. Serve with custard, clotted cream or ice cream.
Tip: I love the clean taste of apple and lemon in this, as cooked by my mum, but you could add a good pinch of ground cloves or some ground cinnamon if you like.
