Black Pudding, Wensleydale and Apple Plait

I love black pudding but tend to only have it sliced and fried as part of a cooked breakfast or starter. However I recently won a whole hamper of black puddings, so I thought it was time to experiment.

For this dish, I used one of the traditional ring-shaped puddings, which I boiled for 10 minutes and left to cool before starting to prepare the dish, but any cooked black pudding weighing about 200g would be just as good.

The other ingredients are simple (unless you are brave enough to make your own puff pastry)

1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry
100g Wensleydale or other sharp, crumbly cheese
1  small cooking apple
2 tbs apple chutney
beaten egg to glaze.

Pre-heat the oven to 170C (fan), 190C (non-fan), gas 5, 370F.

Unroll the pastry sheet onto a baking tray, keeping the backing paper on underneath is as this will line the tray. Spread the chutney over the central third of the pastry, lengthwise, leaving a space of about 5cm at each end.

Remove any skin from the black pudding and crumble the pudding over the chutney. Peel, core and slice the apple and arrange over the pudding, then crumble the cheese over it all. Make sure the side thirds of the pastry are left clear

Now use a sharp knife to cut diagonal slashes in the pastry about 3 cm apart, taking care to match the two sides. Tuck the end flaps up first, then bring up the pastry strips alternately, overlapping the ends to create a plaited effect. A little of the beaten egg on the end of each strip will hold them in place. There will be a surplus of pastry at one end - trim this and roll into a long strip to cover up any messy joins along the top.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes until risen and golden. This is very rich, so all it needs to accompany it is a plain green salad.