Winter is already on the wane, but you’d never know by the way it’s dark at 7am and 5pm and grey in between. It’s damp and it’s cold and though we’ve been spared a big snowfall—so far—the threat of a blizzard is hanging over all of our heads. Put that together with the after-Christmas no-money blahs, and it’s no wonder that most days, the last thing we’re in the mood for is wandering the aisles of the grocery store, deciding if we can stand to eat chicken breasts one more time or if it would just be better to give in and buy the econo-pack of instant oatmeal and call it a night.
On nights like that I make rice pudding. It’s not particularly fast—compared to instant oatmeal, anyway—but it’s warm, and it’s tasty, and it’s decently nutritious. There aren’t any wild ingredients—I always have rice and milk in the house, so I can make it without a trip to the store. But the basic recipe does allow for some creativity—if I’d rather add dried cherries than raisins, or if I feel like dressing it up with whipped cream, I know I can get away with it.
There are, actually, endless variations on rice pudding. It can be cooked on the stovetop or in the oven; made with just milk, or milk and eggs; with any of half a dozen different kinds of rice; served plain or fancied up with dried fruit, citrus zest or a variety of spices. The recipe I use comes from the Gourmet cookbook, which introduces the pudding as “wholesome enough to put on the table for dinner in a pinch.”
It’s straightforward: Combine two cups water with two tablespoons butter, a quarter-teaspoon of salt, and a half-teaspoon of lemon zest in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add one cup long-grain white rice and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, combine four cups of milk, half a cup of sugar and half a vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, in a large saucepan and bring just to a simmer over low heat. Add the cooked rice and a cup of raisins to the hot milk and simmer and stir until most of the milk is absorbed and the rice is creamy. Remove the vanilla bean and sprinkle with cinnamon before serving. Serves six to eight for dessert or three to four if it’s the main course, and saves your soul while you’re at it. Not bad for a pudding.
