From the Bon Appetit cookbook, I made rice pudding.
It was a good – not great – result, but the amount of work was a bit excessive. I’ve made poor-man’s rice pudding before by just mixing rice, milk, sugar, and raisins and simmering in a pot and gotten results only a notch or two below what this complicated recipe gives.
To be fair, I was missing the evaporated milk and half the sweetened condensed milk (so I substituted coconut milk).
…and the vanilla beans I had on hand were old and a bit too dry.
Anyway, simplifying a bit.
- cook rice briefly, drain, rinse
- cook rice again, this time with lemon peel and salt
- in a different pot simmer and reduce a cinnamon-and-lemon-peel-infused milk solution
- combine the milk mixture, raisins, a bit of sugar, and the rice.
- serve with a dusting of ground cinnamon and micro-plane grated lemon zest
Jennifer and I both liked the toothiness of the rice, and we also both liked the infusion of citrus flavors.
It could have been sweeter, the citrus flavors could have been more intense, and the vanilla could have been more pronounced.
I’m inclined to try this again but
- substitute in bits of candied orange for the raisins
- punch up the sweetness
- punch up the citrus with more zest
- add more vanilla
(No picture – too busy eating!)