Recipe: Make our lager and lemon bread and butter pudding

Some flavours just go together. Coffee and chocolate. Cheese and onion. Rhubarb and custard. You get the picture. Others require you to think a little outside the box - to get out of your comfort zone. As is the case this week. There's nothing outrageous about this bake, but it did raise an eyebrow from my esteemed colleague Nick, who doesn't really like food that colours outside the lines (however I take this with a pinch of salt because he had pizza on Christmas Day).

I've taken that very British classic of bread and butter pudding – a nursery favourite – and given it a local twist. Every single ingredient used comes from East Anglia. I was recently given the honour of being on the expert judging panel for the East of England Co-op Producer of the Year Awards and this simple recipe brings together elements from each of the winning finalists.

There's thinly sliced white bread from The Cake Shop Bakery in Woodbridge. This is spread with gorgeously zesty and thick lemon curd from Essex's Thursday Cottage. And in the custard (made with Havensfield Eggs) is a slug of Dewhopper Lager from the Norfolk Brewhouse.

Lager and lemon? I think they go together very well. We think nothing of having a slice of lime alongside a bottle of lager do we? The crisp bitter notes of the beer soften the edges of the citrus notes, giving the dessert a rounded, mellow flavour.

With a lick of cold cream or vanilla Chantilly, it's great after a roast of beer or lamb on a Sunday. It's also a superb way of using leftovers. And talking of leftovers, I keep the crusts and put them (as I do all leftover bread) in a basket in my kitchen. They dry out and every so often I pop them in the food processor to make breadcrumbs.

Lemon and lager bread and butter pudding

(serves four)

Ingredients

Butter for greasing

8 slices of white bread or brioche

Half jar Thursday Cottage lemon curd

300ml milk

100ml Norfolk Brewhouse Dewhopper Lager

1tsp cornflour

2 large free range eggs

4tbsps caster sugar

Method

Grease a 20cm by 25cm or 30cm dish with the butter.

Remove the crusts from the bread (see note above about using these). Spread each piece of bread thickly with lemon curd and cut in half into triangles. Spoon some dollops of lemon curd in the bottom of your greased dish.

Lay the bread, curd-side-up in your dish.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and add 3tbsps of the sugar and the cornflour. Whisk well.

Warm the milk and lager in a pan until it just starts to simmer at the edges. Turn off the heat and pour a little over the eggs, whisking quickly. Combine the rest of the liquid and beat well. Return the mix to your saucepan and cook, stirring all the time, until it just starts to lightly coat the back of a spoon.

Pour over your bread, sprinkle with the remaining 1tbsp sugar. Set the oven to 180C and leave the pudding to stand for 30 minutes. Bake until set and golden – about 30 minutes. I like it warm with a dollop of strawberry jam!