In some ways a lot of things have changed in the last twenty years and in other ways they remain the same. My love of rice pudding has always been a constant. When I was a kid I used to love rice pudding. So much so, that as soon as I had devoured every morsel of rice pudding in my bowl, I would grab the empty saucepan, bring it to the kitchen table, and scrape away every last bit. My Mum used to find it funny that I always did this. One day she surprised me by taking this photo of me mid bite at the table. You can tell by my look of surprise that I wasn’t expecting to be captured in the act! I found this picture recently and was instantly taken back on a journey in time. For a bit of fun I decided to recreate this photo just to see visibly what has changed. I also revisited this favourite dish of mine and created a more sophisticated adult version but essentially the same old rice pudding I know and love.
Here’s how:
– 75g of pudding rice
– 850ml of full fat milk
– 50g of castor sugar
– half a vanilla pod
For the topping
– 30g of castor sugar
This recipe is from Raymond Blanc. (I changed a few little things though). It has delicious crackly toffee on top and really creamy vanilla rice underneath.
Start by rinsing the rice in cold water to remove some of the starch. Place the washed rice in a large saucepan. Next, I scraped out the vanilla pod and added the seeds to the milk and threw in the actual vanilla pod too. Add all this to the rice along with the milk and castor sugar.
Place the saucepan on a medium heat and bring to the boil. Once it has boiled, turn down the heat and leave to simmer really gently for 25 minutes. You’ll need to stir every 5 minutes or so to prevent it sticking. While you are waiting, preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.
Once the rice has simmered for thirty minutes, take off the heat and pour into a shallow rectangular dish. Mine was 8 by 6 inches, so anything around this size would do. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes and then leave to rest for about one hour.
When the rice is completely cool, sprinkle the surface of the pudding with sifted castor sugar. Then, preheat the grill to its highest setting and place under the grill for about 2 minutes, just until golden brown and bubbling. We used a blow torch which also works well to caramelise the sugar and provides a more even finish. Cool for 10 minutes then serve. I served mine with a dollop of strawberry jam. Yum.
So, what has changed? Our cork notice board with newspaper cuttings is now a flat screen TV. Our pepper grinder has doubled in size (my Dad’s a pepper fanatic!) and our family sized tin of golden syrup now comes in a more modest sized tin. I guess I’ve grown up a little too, but in ways I still feel like that little girl licking the spoon from the saucepan.
