Matt Tebbutt’s panettone trifle

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 1 panettone
• 100ml Marsala
• 2–3 clementines, peeled and segmented
• Seeds of 1 pomegranate
• 400ml custard (shop-bought or homemade recipe below)
• 100g pistachio slivers or chopped pistachios

For the Christmas fruits

• 600g dried fruit ‒ medjool dates, stones, prunes, apricots, candied peel, dried cranberries, raisins
• Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed orange
• 200g nuts, pecan nuts and whole almonds, chopped
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1⁄2 nutmeg, grated
• 1⁄2 tsp ground mixed spice
• 750ml Marsala

For the filling

• 2 free-range eggs, separated
• 100g icing sugar
• 50ml Marsala
• 500g good-quality ricotta

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan/gas 4.

2. Place all the Christmas fruits ingredients into an ovenproof dish with a lid and pour the 750ml Marsala over. Bake in the oven with the lid on for 3 hours. Add some water if necessary, to stop it drying out.

3. To make the trifle filling, in a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the icing sugar until thick and pale. Add the Marsala and ricotta and mix well.

4. Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl. Fold the egg whites through the Marsala and ricotta mixture.

5. To assemble the trifle, cut the panettone to fit the size of your trifle serving dish. Douse with the Marsala and top with some of the cooled, cooked fruits and some of the clementines and pomegranate seeds. Spoon over a layer of the custard and then the ricotta cream. Repeat the layers again to build up the trifle.

6. Finish with the pistachio and more pomegranate seeds for decoration. Serve.

Matt Tebbutt’s traditional custard

Makes about 500ml

Ingredients

• 250ml milk
• 250ml double cream
• 2 vanilla pods, split lengthways, seeds scraped
• 8 medium free-range egg yolks
• 100g light brown sugar
• 3 tbsp cornflour, slaked with a little water

Method

1. In a saucepan, boil the milk with the cream and the vanilla.

2. Beat together the yolks and sugar. Add the cornflour and water to the yolks. Pour the hot milk and cream mixture on to the yolks, and stir. Cook gently, stirring constantly, for 5-10 min to make sure you’ve killed off any floury taste.

3. The thickening will happen quite quickly but the floury taste will take a bit longer to lose. (Make sure the custard doesn’t catch at this stage or it will acquire an unpleasant, smoky taste.)

4. Serve hot with a traditional British sponge pudding or baked seasonal fruits.