Far Breton with Prunes (Soaked in Rum)
Far Breton, a soft custard-like pudding hailing from Brittany in France.
It’s a very comforting and a simple pudding to make, but a few little steps can make all the difference, like: soaking the prunes in aged rum (Brandy or Armagnac) for a good few hours (or even overnight), making the beurre noisette (“hazelnut butter”, brown butter) – in other words melting the butter until obtaining a gloriously golden foaming consistency, which adds some nutty flavour and a bit of colour, warming up the milk for a better consistency and adding the seeds from half a vanilla pod is always a delicious idea.
Serves 6:
- 180-200 g of prunes (pitted), soaked in the rum for a minimum of 2 hours, ideally overnight
- about 60 ml of rum (for soaking the prunes), or more for a grown up version
- 100 g of plain flour
- 125 g of sugar
- 3 eggs
- a pinch of salt
- seeds from 1/2 a vanilla pod or some vanilla essence
- 500 ml of whole milk
- 60 g of unsalted butter
- a pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 180 C, fan.
Grease with butter a baking dish, I used a round cast iron dish 26 cm in diameter.
You can always use a rectangular or oval dish, which should be only covered up to 3/4 up after pouring in the batter, and if it’s slightly smaller (but tall enough), just simply bake the Far Breton for a bit longer (to cook the custard through).
Melt the butter in a small pan on a medium heat until it starts to foam, turns golden in colour and releases the nutty aroma. Leave to cool down a little.
Drain the prunes, keeping both the prunes and the liquid separately.
Sieve the flour into a large bowl, add the sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir the ingredients and make a well.
Add one egg and using a whisk gently mix the ingredients together. Add the second egg and finally the last one, whisking all the time until obtaining a smooth consistency.
In the meantime warm up slightly the milk on a medium heat, add the vanilla beans or the vanilla essence.
While whisking the batter gently start pouring in the milk, after that pour in the rum (after soaking the prunes) and finally the beurre noisette – whisking vigorously in order to fully incorporate the butter into the mixture.
Arrange the prunes on the bottom of the prepared dish, give the batter a good stir and very slowly pour it in (that way the prunes stay in their place).
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, until the top turns brown.
Leave to cool down before slicing. It can be enjoyed lukewarm or cold, at any time of the day.
Buon appetit
