Curd Cheese and Semolina Pudding with Apricot Preserve

The curd cheese and semolina pudding with apricot preserve is an old recipe of my grandmother’s. She always served it as a main dish, accompanied by some kinds of fruit preserves or compotes.

In my childhood, it was my granny who cooked for our family every day. Her menu was diverse and delicious, yet traditionally Austrian. One of these traditions was linked to the Catholic belief and concerned the meatless Fridays. I don’t believe that my granny ever cooked meat on a Friday, not even once. Sometimes she served us fish but mostly we had a vegetable soup followed by a sweet main dish. There were so many different dishes included in her repertoire, e.g. all kinds of strudels (apple, curd cheese, cherry, apricot), ‘Kaiserschmarren’ (i.e. like a big, fluffy pancake, torn into chunks), Austrian style pancakes, fruit dumplings, ‘Buchteln’ (i.e. oven-baked yeast dumplings, filled with jam) or this very curd cheese and semolina pudding with apricot preserve. As a matter of fact, I absolutely adored these Fridays as all these meals were simply divine. And the vegetable soup, which was served as a starter, contained a varied selection of our delicious garden vegetables, like peas, carrots, beans, kohlrabi, broccoli and many more.

My Granny grew up in an orphanage in another part of Austria and she came here as a young girl, when she took the position of a nanny with a wealthy family. She had to look after an ailing little boy who unfortunately died at a very young age. During that time she also met my grandpa and so she eventually stayed in our little village.

My grandmother in her early twenties

My grandmother with her foster child

I do not know exactly when the recipe for the curd cheese and semolina pudding dates back to. I also do not recall whether she had it written down somewhere. Maybe it only existed in her head because the recipe that I have was written by myself some thirty years ago. Back then, she probably dictated it to me.

This pudding is one of my favourites as it is not so sweet and yet incredibly moist. Sometimes I modify the recipe by adding some fresh fruit to the pudding itself or I serve it with a delicious compote.

Curd Cheese and Semolina Pudding with Apricot Preserve

Serves 6-8

For the curd cheese and semolina pudding:
500 ml (2 cups and 1/8 cup) milk
100 g (1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon) semolina
a pinch of salt
100 g (1/3 – ½ cup) butter
100 g (1/2 cup) sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or 1 pinch of grated vanilla
3 eggs
250 g (1 cup) curd cheese or cream cheese

For the apricot preserve:
1 kg (2 ¼ lb) apricots
250 ml (1 cup) passion fruit juice (or 200 ml juice and 50 ml sweet wine, e.g. some icewine)
200 g (1 cup) sugar
1 pinch of ground cinnamon
1 pinch of ground cloves

Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F) fan.

Bring the milk to the boil and stir the semolina into the boiling milk. Reduce to medium heat and cook until you get a thickly semolina porridge which starts to come off the sides of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Beat the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla until creamy. Add the egg yolks and continue beating for another 2-3 minutes. Add the curd cheese and the cooled semolina porridge.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Slowly fold the egg whites into the semolina-curd cheese mixture.

Grease an ovenproof dish with butter and coat it with flour. Fill the mixture into the dish and bake in the preheated oven for about 50-60 minutes.

For the apricot preserve wash and destone the apricots and cut them into slices or smaller pieces. Heat the passion fruit juice, the sugar and the spices in a saucepan then add the apricots and cook for about 15-20 minutes until soft, stirring frequently. Transfer to a serving bowl and allow to cool completely.

Serve the warm curd cheese pudding with the cold apricot preserve.

Enjoy, my dears!
All the best, Simone

Here is the recipe for printing: