Baked rice pudding. I am not sure about you but I find when I am anxious I really like comfort food. The food cooked by my family, pies, fruit crumbles, and Sunday roasts. We are all in a difficult and highly unusual time and I am looking for really reassuring cooking. Nothing says comfort food to me like a creamy, baked rice pudding. Made with full-fat Jersey milk and cream with a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. The recipe for rice pudding is great just as it is. However, if you want to take your rice pudding to the next level you can add some poached rhubarb, then my secret ingredient some crumbled ginger biscuits.
Rice Pudding
You make Rice pudding from rice, milk, and water. Sometimes with added sugar and sometimes flavourings such as cinnamon or vanilla. You can make it by boiling the ingredients together or baking them in an oven. You can find rice pudding recipes made all around the world. The starch from the rice helps thicken the liquid to give a creamy finish. In the UK you would normally make the dish with short, fat, plump grains of rice called pudding rice. In the UK Rice pudding is often served with a big spoon of jam.
Baked Rice Pudding
Equipment
- Oven proof dish
Ingredients
- 100 gram short-grain Pudding rice
- 1 litre Full-fat Jersey Milk
- 200 ml Jersey Double Cream
- 50 gram unsalted Jersey Butter
- 60 gram Caster Sugar
- 1 teaspoon quality Vanilla extract
- A generous grating of Nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 F / 160 C / Gas Mark 3.
- Heat the butter, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla in a large heavy-bottomed pan and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Remove from the heat, pour in the rice and mix.
- Transfer to a casserole dish and grate on the nutmeg. Loosely cover with foil.
- Place in the oven and cook for an hour then carefully take out and remove the foil.
- Bake for about another half an hour so the surface browns and the rice is cooked.
- Allow to cool, spoon over baked rhubarb, crumbled ginger biscuits, and serve.
Notes
Rhubarb
You might not believe it but in Medieval Europe, rhubarb was a highly sought after commodity. Rhubarb was more valuable than saffron and opium. Rhubarb was highly valued because of its perceived medicinal properties. However, it was not until the eighteenth century and the increasing availability of cheap sugar that rhubarb was valued for culinary use. Today you will find rhubarb baked in pies and crumbles, made into jams and preserves, and in the classic English dessert rhubarb fool. If you bake the rhubarb the finished result is less watery and does not require thickening.
Baked Rhubarb
Equipment
- Oven proof dish
- Baking foil
Ingredients
- 500 grams Rhubarb
- 75 grams Golden Caster Sugar
- 1 piece preserved Stem Ginger
Instructions
- Heat your oven 375°F / 190°C / Gas mark 5. Rinse the rhubarb and wipe clean. Trim the ends and peel down the back of the stem then into three-centimetre pieces.
- Place the rhubarb in a shallow dish and sprinkle over the sugar. Finely grate over the ginger. Cover with foil.
- Place in the oven and bake for fifteen minutes. Carefully take out of the oven and remove the foil.
- Stir with a wooden spoon. Turn the oven down to 350°F / 180°C / Gas mark 4 and return the Rhubarb for another five to ten minutes.
- Test with a small sharp knife; the rhubarb should feel tender, still have kept its shape, and the sugar dissolved into a light syrup.