A familiar refrain from my childhood, and one I often ask Nick as we finish our dinner – something sweet to round off the evening meal. I was lucky to grow up in a family where putting food on the table – in terms of affording it – was never an issue. With hindsight, I realise what a burden it must have been for my mother, preparing dinner for a family of six in the days before ready-meals and microwave ovens, after a day spent teaching German to adolescent boys, and with the evening set aside for lesson preparation and marking homework. The main course on a Monday was often meatloaf, made with leftovers from Sunday’s roast. But what I mostly remember is what came after the main course, and in our family this was called pudding. What’s for pudding, Mum?

And these are some of the puddings I remember, some made more frequently than others:

• Apple crumble. Also apricot crumble – as I recall, Mum used a tin of stewed apricots and made the crumble mix herself.
• Flummery – not a frequent dessert, and I remember the name more than the dish. The Macquarie Concise Dictionary‘s first definition is: a fruit flavoured jelly mixture, sometimes thickened with flour, beaten until fluffy and allowed to set.
• Pears baked in red wine and spices
• Baked apple, the central hole where the core was removed stuffed with dates
• Apple charlotte
• Stewed plums from our plum tree. I loved the sourness of the plums tempered with sugar, and the slightly marbled effect as you poured single cream over the plums and it mixed with the red juice.
• Stewed rhubarb mixed with whipped cream – another great combination!
• Baked “continental” style cheesecake with a crumb base. Nice and dense and not too sweet.
• Lemon Delicious Pudding. The lemon from the lemon tree in our backyard (standard feature in most Australian backyards). I described the pudding in a poem as a ‘head-spinning tang-fest’. I’ve yet to try making a vegan version.
• An early time-saving fallback – Sara Lee Danish Pastry or Crumble, bought frozen from the supermarket and baked in the oven.
• Ice cream and frozen yoghurt were good standbys, as well as accompaniments to other desserts.
• But how about avocado ice cream?? I still dream about Mum’s avocado ice cream. The creamy texture and taste, the beautiful pale green hue, the citrus hints counterbalancing the richness of the avocado mix. Melt-in-the-mouth heaven. Mum sent me the recipe for avocado ice cream many years ago, but I’ve never attempted it – yet! It should be fairly easy to create a vegan version. Maybe next summer I’ll give it a whirl.

Here is Mum’s avocado ice cream recipe: