Christmas pudding is one of the most controversial dishes on the festive menu, bar sprouts of course. And chances are you've got some leftovers lurking in your kitchen.
The traditional Christmas dessert is like marmite, but it still makes an appearance every year. The densely fruit-packed pudding is boiled for hours and can be served with brandy butter or steaming custard or can simply be bought from the supermarkets. However, chef Jamie Oliver has a recipe to rescue your Christmas pudding leftovers and maybe convert even the staunchest Christmas pudding haters.
Writing on his website, the chef says: "This recipe uses up leftover Christmas pud brilliantly. What I'm giving you here is really more of a suggestion because the amount of Christmas pudding you'll have left over will really depend on how greedy your guests were on Christmas Day. I think it's almost worth having another pudding stashed away so you can make this as an after-Christmas treat."
To make Jamie Oliver's leftover Christmas pudding ice cream sundae you will need:
Ingredients
Jamie Oliver shares his top kitchen store cupboard essentials200g Christmas pudding
6 tablespoons cranberry sauce
A splash of red or mulled wine
2 teaspoons sugar, to taste, optional
500ml good-quality vanilla ice cream
One large handful of flaked almonds
100g good-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
Method
Put a pan over a medium heat and crumble in your Christmas pudding. Squash it down a bit with a wooden spoon to help it heat up and get a bit crispy. Fry for about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring every so often so it doesn't catch.
In another small pan on low heat, add your cranberry sauce with a splash of red or mulled wine. Stir in and cook for a few minutes until warmed through. If your sauce is too tart for your liking, add a teaspoon or two of sugar. If you've made up a batch of my spiced sugar, then use that because it will be delicious with the cranberry.
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Once your pudding is warm and slightly crispy and the sauce has heated up, divide half of your pudding between your four glasses or bowls. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the pudding, drizzle over your hot cranberry sauce, and a good sprinkling of toasted flaked almonds.
Divide the remaining Christmas pud between your glasses and layer again with ice cream, cranberry sauce and flaked almonds.
Finish the sundae off by grating over a bit of nice dark chocolate and dig in before the ice cream melts.