Strawberry Pudding - Budino di Fragole

Come spring, Italian markets fill with strawberries. While one can simply hull them and enjoy them, one can also do other things with strawberries, and this strawberry pudding is very tasty and very easy. To serve 8:

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/8 pounds (500 g) strawberries, washed, dried, and hulled
• 1 1/5 cups (300 ml) heavy cream, lightly whipped
• 1 cup (225 g) sugar
• 1/2 an ounce (15 g) fish gelatin in sheets, or gelatin sufficient to set 1 pint (500 ml) liquid
• Maraschino or other liqueur (optional, and we omitted it)
• A sprig or two of fresh mint, as garnish

Preparation:

Set the gelatin to soak in cool water, separating the sheets (if you're using another gelatin follow the directions on the package).

Rinse the strawberries, pat them dry, and hull them. Set aside 3-4 of the prettiest ones to use as garnish, and blend the rest with 2 tablespoons sugar, and a tablespoon or two of the liqueur if you're using it.

Set aside 1/4 cup of the sugar, and mix the remainder with 1/4 cup water. Heat it to a boil and simmer stirring gently, until the mixture thickens and becomes syrupy, about 8-10 minutes.

Remove the syrup from the fire. Squeeze excess moisture from the sheets of gelatin, add them to the syrup, and stir gently until they have completely dissolved. Whisk the mixture into the blended strawberries, mix well, and let the mixture cool.

In the meantime whip the heavy cream with the remaining sugar; you want the cream to be airy and light, but not stiff.

Fold the whipped cream into the blended strawberries.

At this point you have a choice:

• You can fill 8 small molds with the pudding, if you want to serve individual portions.
• Or you can put all the pudding into a pint (500 ml, or slightly larger) ribbed mold.

In either case, chill the pudding in the refrigerator for several hours, or, better yet, overnight.

Come time to unmold the pudding, heat a pot of water you can dip the mold into. Let the water heat the mold for just a second (longer and the pudding will begin to melt and run). Cover the mold with your serving dish and flip the two together; the pudding will settle gracefully onto the serving dish (if it doesn't, dip the mold briefly again).

Decorate the pudding with slices of the reserved strawberries, sprigs of mint, and, if you want, a little more whipped cream. Serve at once, before it has time to start warming up.

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