My husband is a very old fashioned man with very old fashioned tastes. If I want to make him extremely happy all I have to do is to make him a Rice Pudding. He adores rice pudding more than any other dessert execept for maybe apple pie and custard.
He is not overly fond of lemon desserts but when I saw this recipe for a Lemon Rice Pudding in a book I have called The Vicars Wife Cookbook by Elisa Beynon, I really wanted to give it a go. It sounded really nice and it was dead simple.
She won a cookbook deal in a Waitrose competition way back when I was still working at the Manor, and this book was the result of that. I have had the book for quite a while now and I am ashamed to say, this is the first time I have cooked a recipe from it. This pudding is an adaptation of the one in this book.
I really need to spend some time going through the book and seeing if there is anything else I might want to cook from it. It has never really been one of my favourites. Sadly today I discovered that she actually passed away in 2015. Its a really tragic and sad story. She was only 45.
Back to the pudding it is everything that a good rice pudding should be . . . it is rich and toothsome . . . comforting and the lemon flavours are an exciting twist to an old favourite. Even Todd who does not normally like lemon desserts said it was delicious.
It couldn't be any simpler to make. Short grained rice gets stirred together with whole milk and single cream (half and half). . . some sugar and lemon zest . . . and then baked long and slow in a low oven, giving it a stir every now and then. I used Paella rice because that is what I had and it worked very well.
At the end of it cooking it still looks quite thin, but you stir some lemon curd into it, either homemade (if you have it) or a good quality store bought one . . . and it magically thickens up so that it is just the right thickness. this is rich and lemony. I only had one taste and I could tell that this will even be fabulous served cold from the refrigerator. Todd practically licked the bowl clean!
*Lemon Rice Pudding*
Serves 4 - 6
Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ gas mark2.
Stir the rice, cream, milk, sugar and lemon zest together in a 1.2 litre/1 1/4 QT shallow baking dish. Place into the oven. Bake for 1 1/4 hours, stirring in the skin ever half hour. It will not look overly thick at the baking time, but don't worry about that. Stir in the lemon curd and more sugar if you think it needs it. Let stand for a few minutes and then serve. Not sure how it works but the lemon curd thickens it up very nicely.
If you are looking for a really simple, and delicious pudding to make for your family or friends this weekend, this will surely fit the bill on all counts! Rich and comforting. Bon Appetit!
:)
ReplyDeleteIt’s pretty good Monique! Xo
DeleteI love creamy rice pudding WITHOUT RAISINS. And that's a hard recipe to find. But lemon and rice pudding is a match made in heaven. My favorite recipe only contains the zest. This recipe with lemon curd? Ohhhhhhh! It should be divine! Thank you for sharing Marie.
ReplyDeleteThis really is very good Sandy! I hope you will try it! Xo
DeleteI should make this for my dad. He is a fellow rice pudding fan as I am. At least its something that is almost always gluten free. I think he might like the lemon too. By the way, do you know if light cream in the US is the same as your single cream? It has to be either that or half and half which is most often used in coffee or tea. I can't think what else it would be. Heavy cream would be double cream. I'm also glad to see you used whole milk. I never touch anything known as 2% or 1% or worst of all, skim milk at any time, it goes against the laws of nature in my book but in baking I NEVER use anything but whole milk. These people who think they can save 10 calories by substituting all this low fat or diet stuff just don't get baking.
ReplyDeleteHi Pam! It has to be either light cream or half in half. Truth be told you could probably also use heavy cream, or even all just whole milk. I like your thoughts on that! I hope you make the pudding! xo
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