If you like rice pudding at all, this is for you. When I first read this recipe in Laurie Colwin's More Home Cooking, with her description of how the lemon peel dissolves into the slow-cooked pudding, I stuck my thumb between the pages and went straight to the kitchen.
This is the ultimate comfort food, not too sweet, and scented with lemon, perfectly acceptable for breakfast. The best part is the creamy texture, with the rice dissolving into transparent bits that melt on the tongue. Even if you are not one of those who love all things pudding, give this a try. It's absolutely heavenly.
Colwin lifted this straight from Jane Grigson, and so I have no compunction about offering it here to you. I really think she would approve.
Lemon Rice Pudding
serves two
1 lemon
1/4 cup rice, jasmine or Basmati
1 pint half and half
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon rum (optional)
Preheat the oven to 250F. Peel the lemon with a vegetable peeler and cut the peel into fine strips. Mix the peel, rice, sugar, half and half and rum, if you want it, in a small ovenproof dish. Put in the oven and cook uncovered for about 2 1/2 hours, stirring every 45 minutes or so.
When this comes out the rice will have almost dissolved, becoming more like tapioca than anything else. It will thicken quite a lot as it cools. Chill, if you like your rice pudding cold. I can't wait that long, and eat it barely out of the oven.
I'm a huge rice pudding devotee, and I'm practically melting into my office chair as I read. This will be made tonight.
sounds yummy.
now if i can only find a recipe that resemples this coconut rice pudding i had at the mustard seed market in solon, ohio....
Taverna on Bedford Street in NYC has the VERY best pear rice pudding you'll ever have. Unreal
I ADORE rice pudding and have to try this out this weekend. I have tried a rice pudding recipe posted here before and if it's half as good as that one....
Made it last night and it's yummy, though much too rich for my taste. Boyfriend loved it. I might have to make it with a lower percentage cream next time.
I also made it last night and found it too rich. It also got much much thicker (harder?) than I wanted overnight in the fridge. I think maybe a combination of lower percentage cream or more milk might help.
But otherwise it was very good.
excuse my foreign-ness here, but what is half and half? cream, milk?
It's half whole milk, half cream - also known as single cream.
I agree about the richness - I love that about this recipe, but I would like to try it with whole milk and see what it's like. Also, I tend to cook it too long because it looks so soupy, but then when I take it out it firms up really hard.
thank you faith.
I wonder if you could sub brown rice for this? I have a ton of brown "texamati" rice and am trying to find uses for it.
Thank you, Faith, for making this for "the fam" last week. It was with the jasmine rice, and I loved the tiniest bit of lemony chewiness, along with the lovely creamy flavor.
i made this on saturday night for guests and it was well received. i tripled the recipe and used plain rice, and i did add the optional rum. delicious!
Hi there - I've got a question. I tried this recipe but used soy milk instead of the half and half. It didn't turn out at all - the jasmine rice didn't cook. At first I thought maybe it had something to do with the temperature of the oven (I want to confirm that it is 250 F, not 350 F) but maybe it was the soy milk? I don't know why that would be the case though - I thought you could pretty much substitute with soy milk in most recipes. I've only recently been using mainly soy milk in baking so I'm still learning what works and what doesn't.
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