My mum used to make us Bread and Butter Pudding for a treat on Sundays after a massive roast. I’ve updated her recipe with a patriotic green pistachio bread.
Pistachio Bread recipe:
Ingredients
300g plain flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1⁄2 tsp. salt
120g butter, softened and extra for greasing
200g caster sugar
2 free range eggs
85ml buttermilk (you can use milk with a dash of lemon juice if you don’t have buttermilk)
1 tsp. natural green food colouring (optional)
80g pistachios, shelled
Method
Preheat oven to 180C. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. In another bowl cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and buttermilk to the butter and sugar, mix well. Roast the pistachios in the oven on a baking tray for 5minutes. Chop roughly. Fold the flour mixture together with the butter and sugar and stir in the chopped pistachios.
Add the food colouring at this stage if using. If you want a darker colour add more, be careful and add drop by drop. You don’t want to end up with a fluorescent green loaf. Grease a 20cm x 12.5cm loaf tin with butter.
Spoon the mixture into the tin and finish with a sprinkle of pistachios. Bake for 50minutes or until a cake tester/skewer comes out clean. You can gobble it up while it’s warm. You could add some butter or try with some coconut yogurt. Or why not turn it into the bread and butter pudding below?
Bread and Butter Pudding recipe
Ingredients
1 loaf pistachio bread
40g butter, and extra for greasing 400ml whole milk
100ml double cream
3 free range eggs
25g caster sugar
80g pistachios, roughly chopped 1 tbsp. demerara sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 170C. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Slice the pistachio bread into even slices. Whether you keep the crusts on is a personal preference.
Butter each slice lightly on both sides. Heat the milk and cream in a saucepan until scalding point (the point just before it boils). Meanwhile whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Pour the milk and cream onto the eggs and sugar. Return to the saucepan and cook out on a gentle heat for 3 – 4minutes until it has thickened slightly.
Start with a layer of bread in the dish, followed by a sprinkle of pistachios. Continue alternating between layers of bread and pistachios until the dish is nearly full. Pour the custard on top. Finish with a final layer of bread and sprinkle the demerara sugar on top. Bake in the oven for 35-40minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with cream or custard.
Laoise Casey is a chef at Paradise Garage in Bethnal Green and writes regular columns for the Evening Standard and Independent about one of her favourite subjects – lunch. In her former life she used to be an HR Manager in Ireland. Three years ago she moved to London to follow her dream to become a chef and writer and hasn’t looked back since. She is also the author of www.cuisinegenie.ie. Follow her on Twitter @cuisine_genie and Instagram @laoisecooks
