This month has been all about being British. With St George’s Day and the Royal Wedding being in the same week, food has been all about getting back to good old british basics – and what better than a traditional suet jam roly poly. I adore a good suet pudding and this should definitely be served with custard.

Slightly adapted from BBC Good Food

Serves 6

• 50g salted butter , cold and cut into chunks, plus extra for greasing
• 250g self-raising flour , plus extra for rolling
• 1 tbsp vanilla paste
• 50g shredded suet
• 150ml milk , plus a drop more if needed
• 100g/4oz mixed fruit jam
• custard , to serve

1. Put a deep roasting tin onto the bottom shelf of the oven, and make sure that there’s another shelf directly above it. Pull the roasting tin out on its shelf, fill two-thirds with boiling water from the kettle, then carefully slide it back in. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Tear off a large sheet of foil and greaseproof paper (about 30 x 40cm). Sit the greaseproof on top of the foil and butter it. (NB – make sure you grease this very well, as the pudding WILL try to stick to the paper)
2. Tip butter, flour and vanilla into a food processor; pulse until the butter has disappeared. Tip into a mixing bowl. Stir through the suet, pour in the milk and work together with a cutlery knife until you get a sticky dough. You may need a drop more milk, depending on your flour.
3. Tip the dough out onto a floured surface, quickly pat together to smooth, then roll out to a square roughly 25 x 25cm. Spread the jam all over, leaving a gap along one edge, then roll up from the opposite edge. Pinch the jam-free edge into the dough where it meets, and pinch the ends roughly, too. Carefully lift onto the greased paper, join-side down (you might find a flat baking sheet helpful for this), loosely bring up the paper and foil around it, then scrunch together along the edges and ends to seal. The roly-poly will puff quite a bit during cooking so don’t wrap it tightly. Lift the parcel directly onto the rack above the tin and cook for 1 hr.
4. Let the pudding sit for 5 mins before unwrapping, then carefully open the foil and paper, and thickly slice to serve.