Bread and butter pudding

 When I was a child my mother thought bread and butter pudding was an excuse to use up stale, mouldy bread, rancid margarine and milk that was well on the turn. As a result I never made it for years! But it can be delicious and is very simple to make. Here is my version.

Take a knob of butter and grease the dish well with it. Put the rest of the knob aside for later.

Cut 3 slices of bread (crusts on or off as you prefer) into quarters (or whatever suits your dish - I find an old-fashioned enamel dish, which I am happy to see can be bought again nowadays - is the easiest).

Lay half the bits of bread in a single layer on the bottom of the dish.

Sprinkle a couple of generous handfuls of mixed dried fruit over the bread.

Place the rest of the bread in a second layer on top of the fruit (you don't want fruit poking out the top as it is inclined to burn there.)

Sprinkle a dessertspoonful of sugar over the bread.

Break 3 eggs into a bowl and add a small carton of single cream. Whisk together until well mixed.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread etc.

Grate plenty of nutmeg over the top. 

Find the rest of your original knob of butter and pop it on the top (this little trick stops milk and custard mixtures overflowing during cooking.)

Leave the dish for half an hour - this is important as it lets the custard soak into the bread. Most unsatisfactory puddings don't allow for this soaking time.

Now you can cook it. Put the oven on to 150 degrees C.

Place the pudding dish on a baking tray and half fill the tray with cold water (this is all a bain marie is!)

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the custard is just set in the middle of the dish.