• White bean panzanella salad with tomato dressing, caperberries and anchovies
• Wafer crostini toasts topped with smooth chive cheese, broad beans and soft-poached eggs
• The classic pea-and-ham soup
• The healthy pea-and-ham soup
• The ultimate veggie burger

Make bread-and-butter pudding

This dessert never seems to go out of fashion, so get warm and toasty and give your willpower a break with a classic, feel-good bread-and-butter pudding.

This recipes will serve 6 and can be ready to serve in under an hour and a half.

Prep time: 30 minutes                                            Cooking time: 45 minutes

For the text version of this recipe (which you can add to your online recipe book), click our link: Bread-and-butter pudding.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 kitka or sliced white loaf, slightly stale 
• 60ml (4T) golden syrup
• 100g raisins
• butter, for greasing
• 500ml (2 cups) cream
• 250ml (1 cup) milk
• 8 free-range egg yolks
• 15ml (1T) vanilla extract or paste

METHOD:

1. Preheat your oven to 170ºC. Carefully slice the bread into quite thin slices.

2. Spread the syrup over half the bread slices. Top with raisins and cover with the remaining slices of bread to make sandwiches.

Butter the dish and lightly press the sandwiches into the dish.

3. To make the custard mixture, slowly heat the cream and milk. Beat in the eggs and add the vanilla.

4. Pour the custard mixture over the bread and leave it all to soak for  about 15 minutes.

Pop it in your oven and bake for 45 minutes, until set but still wobbly.

5. Serve with a jug of warm custard, runny cream or a dollop of crème fraîche.

We highly recommend you eat the pudding warm and not piping hot – it tastes better than straight out of the oven.

GLAM IT UP

• For a sweeter, sexier version, arrange sliced raisin bread or panettone in a baking dish. Lightly beat 8 free-range eggs then stir in 200g roughly chopped 70% dark chocolate, 2 cups of cream and 2 cups of milk . Finally, add 2 T caster sugar, and give it another stir. Pour this heavenly mixture over the sliced bread and bake as above.

RING THE CHANGES

• use marmelade instead of syrup and add a tot or two of orange liqueur
• try some chopped, soft eating nectarines instead of the raisins
• hot cross buns or croissants are also a good base
• for a slightly lighter version, use only milk
• using soya milk makes a just-as-tasty pudding if you're lactose intolerant
• sprinkle with nutmeg and add a bit of lemon zest instead of, or as well as, the vanilla
• scatter with fresh raspberries
• try maple syrup for a change

MORE BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDINGS FROM TASTE:

• Croissant bread-and-butter pudding with mixed berries
• Baby apricot bread-and-butter puddings
• No time to cook? Buy ready-made bread and butter pudding from Woolies