Rice pudding with salted caramel

When I used to work at Cook & Brown in Providence, I would sometimes end a shift by eating a bowl of this stuff. It's addictive. I'm not usually a rice pudding person, but this stuff is amazing.

I stumbled upon the recipe recently, and decided to make it at home.

I had decidedly mixed results. The pudding was a little runny, the caramel clumped, and so I didn't even bother folding in whipped cream at the end.

But you know what? Still delicious.

Reprinted below:

Rice Pudding:
1.5 cups heavy cream + 3/4 cup heavy cream for later use
2.25 cups whole milk
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon arborio rice (or any other short grained risotto rice)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, split in half and seeds scraped out

Salted Caramel:
1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (kosher salt will also work, but avoid table salt)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

For the rice pudding:

Place 1.5 cups heavy cream, milk, rice, sugar and vanilla bean and seeds in a medium sized, heavy bottomed sauce pan. Over medium-high heat bring to a boil, stirring every couple of minutes to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat to low and cook for 25-35 minutes or until the rice is cooked through and the liquid has reduced by about half. Pour into a casserole dish, remove the vanilla beans and place in the refrigerator. Every 15 minutes or so give the pudding a stir so that no clumps form while cooling.

For the caramel:

Pour the sugar in to a heavy bottomed, small to medium sized sauce pot and place over medium heat. Spread the sugar out in an even layer and wait until it begins to melt and turn a light amber color. When the edges being to caramelize, gently swirl the pan but do not stir with a spoon. When all of the sugar has turned an amber color, remove from the heat and add the butter. Once the butter is fully melted, slowly pour in the cream (Be aware that caramelized sugar is very hot. When adding the cream, the mixture may bubble up and sputter a little. Be very careful during this step.) If the sugar clumps up, simply place the pan back over low heat and stir until the caramel melts completely. Remove from the stove and stir in the salt. Set the caramel aside to cool down.

In a bowl or glass, alternate spoonfuls of the rice pudding with thin layers of caramel. Finish with a dollop of caramel on top and garnish with a few flakes of large grained sea salt.

Meanwhile, place the remaining 3/4 cup of heavy cream in a bowl or stand mixer and whisk until it forms medium peaks. Fold this into the rice pudding until the whole mixture is light and creamy.

Cardamom chicken curry

Sometimes you have most of the ingredients of a recipe, but not all. Depending on how you feel about improvising, you have a few options. You can simply proceed without those ingredients, and see what happens; you can substitute something similar; or you can go out and buy those things. Almost always I'll choose 1 or 2. Occasionally I'll get a final result that's nothing like the original. But that's okay too, because it's usually still pretty good.

As happened with this chicken curry. I wanted something to use up two packages of chicken thighs, and I liked the idea of a curry made with yogurt. This is the original recipe. I had green cardamom and turmeric, but not the other more exotic spices. I decided to make it anyway. I skipped a few ingredients that I didn't have (cilantro, fresh ginger, black cardamom); it ended up more like a spiced yogurt version of chicken cacciatore.

But you know what? Still pretty tasty.

Beet greens and rice gratin

This is another one of those dishes that's good either hot or cold.

Notes: I used mozzarella instead of Gruyere (and added more Parmesan), and I skipped the blanching/steaming set. I just threw the raw beet greens directly into the pan with the onion and garlic and let them cook until wilted.

From the New York Times:

1 generous bunch beet greens, stemmed and washed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3 eggs
1/2 cup low-fat milk (2 percent)
Freshly ground pepper
1 cup cooked brown rice, arborio rice or Calrose rice
2 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (1/2 cup, tightly packed)
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup bread crumbs (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 2-quart gratin dish with olive oil. Either blanch the beet greens for 1 minute in a large pot of generously salted boiling water, or steam over an inch of boiling water for 2 to 5 minutes, until wilted and tender. Rinse with cold water, squeeze out water and chop medium-fine. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes, and add the garlic and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the cooked greens and the thyme and toss together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and milk. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Stir in the greens mixture, the rice and the cheeses and mix together well. Scrape into the oiled baking dish. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top. Drizzle on the remaining tablespoon of oil.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until sizzling and lightly browned on the top and sides. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Frittata with brown rice, peas and pea shoots

Mmmm, fresh peas. The brown rice adds a really nice texture to this.

From the New York Times, reprinted below:

1 pound fresh peas, shelled (about 3/4 cup)
6 ounces pea shoots (1/2 big bunch), curly tendrils removed and discarded
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch young spring onions or scallions, cleaned and finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 cup cooked brown rice, long-grain or short-grain (may substitute cooked basmati or jasmine rice)
7 eggs
2 tablespoons milk

Steam the peas over an inch of boiling water for 4 minutes, until just tender. Transfer to a bowl. Add the pea shoots to the steamer and steam 2 to 3 minutes, until just wilted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool until you can handle them. Do not discard the steaming water; pour it into a measuring cup. Squeeze out excess water from the pea shoots and chop medium-fine. You should have about 1 cup chopped leaves and tender stems.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet and add the chopped spring onion or scallions. Cook, stirring, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Stir in the pea shoots and stir together for about a minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the peas, tarragon and parsley and about 1/4 cup of the steaming water, turn up the heat and cook, stirring, until the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add about 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste), freshly ground pepper, and the milk. Stir in the rice, chives and pea mixture and combine well.

Heat the remaining oil in a 10-inch, preferably nonstick pan over medium-high heat until a drop of egg sizzles and sets within seconds of being added to the pan. Stir the frittata mixture and add it to the pan, scraping in every last bit with a rubber spatula. Shake the pan gently, tilting it slightly with one hand while lifting up the edges of the frittata with the spatula in your other hand, to let the eggs run underneath during the first few minutes of cooking. Once a few layers of egg have cooked during the first couple of minutes of cooking, turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, shaking the pan gently every once in a while. From time to time remove the lid and loosen the bottom of the frittata with a wooden spatula, tilting the pan, so that the bottom doesn’t burn. The eggs should be just about set; cook a few minutes longer if they’re not.

Meanwhile, heat the broiler. Uncover the pan and place under the broiler, not too close to the heat, for 1 to 3 minutes, watching very carefully to make sure the top doesn’t burn (at most, it should brown very slightly and puff under the broiler). Remove from the heat, shake the pan to make sure the frittata isn’t sticking and allow it to cool for at least 5 minutes and for up to 15. Loosen the edges with a wooden or plastic spatula. Carefully slide from the pan onto a large round platter. Cut into wedges and serve hot or warm or at room temperature.

Some notes: I didn't bother steaming the tendrils, I just chopped and added. (Which means I didn't add any water, either.) I didn't make the frittata on the stovetop, either; I set it up in a cast-iron skillet and baked it at 400 until the center was no longer jiggly. 

Spring pea risotto with pea tendrils

The restaurant got some first-of-the-season spring peas in last week, so naturally I had to have some. I brought home two pounds of peas (which, shelled, was about two cups of peas) and a box of pea shoots.

Pea shoots (or tendrils, or vines, or whatever you want to call them) are like pea-flavored microgreens. They're tender and delicious, and can absolutely be eaten on their own if you so desire. I plan to make a very decadent salad with the rest of them later in the week.

This risotto is very similar to this one with peas, zucchini, and bacon, but without the zucchini and bacon. Throw the raw peas in at the last minute, with the butter and parmesan. You want them to still have a slight pop. Scatter pea shoots around the top, and enjoy the taste of spring.

Lime cilantro rice

Yet another good use for a bunch of cilantro that's about to go bad. Just make a batch of rice (any rice, white, brown, jasmine, whatever), and when it's done, add in a chopped bunch of cilantro and the juice and zest of one lime. Salt to taste.

Meyer lemon risotto with goat cheese and basil

This is a basic risotto with goat cheese instead of parmesan or heavy cream, and the juice and zest of one Meyer lemon stirred in at the end (along with a handful of fresh chopped basil). The one downside is that the delicate lemon flavor is mostly lost with reheating, so eat this up while it's hot.

Golden beet risotto with Dungeness crab

I'm so over budget for this month it's not even funny. But I'm rebuilding my pantry from scratch--and the extra cost amortizes out over all those months when we weren't buying anything, just using up all the pantry stores.

In the spirit of being way over budget, I got some amazing stuff at Pike Place Market, and made us a fresh seafood feast. First up: golden beet risotto with Dungeness crab.

I made a golden beet risotto, with about half of the beet greens, and topped it off with handfuls of fresh crab meat. I bought a whole cooked Dungeness crab, picked all the meat out, and made crab stock with the shell. Some of the crab stock went into the risotto (the final product was about two-thirds chicken stock), and the rest went into the freezer.

I drank a Laughing Stock Pinot Gris with this feast, and in the spirit of generosity, gave a tiny scrap of crabmeat to each of the cats.

Zucchini risotto

With this dish, I managed to use up a bunch of random squash and zucchini ends (from work) and the last of the arborio rice.

You can use this recipe as a guideline. This is a standard risotto, with grated zucchini/squash (1 large, or a few small). About halfway through the cooking process, add the grated squash. It will cook quickly, and adopt a really nice melty texture. Add parmesan and the juice of a lemon at the end, and season with salt and pepper.

Fresh dill or basil would be a really nice addition, too.

Dill risotto, with smoked salmon

My salmon toasts kick from last week is almost done--I'm just about out of salmon. This leaves me with most of a bunch of fresh dill, just a little smoked salmon, and most of a container of sour cream. The sour cream I'll use in a sour cream coffee cake--the dill was more problematic, as it's such a pungent herb, and doesn't have universal applications like parsley.

So I made dill risotto, and topped it with smoked salmon.

Follow the standard risotto recipe (without the butternut squash and chard, of course); at the end, add a bunch of chopped dill and a big scoop of sour cream. (Adding parmesan cheese at this point is strictly optional.) Salt and pepper to taste.

Cauliflower curry

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking:

1 head of cauliflower, cored and cut into florets
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced
3 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and diced (okay if you don't have this)
2 jalapenos or other hot peppers, seeded and sliced (or two tablespoons jalapeno pesto)
2 medium onions
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1/2 cup broth
1 small package frozen peas

Boil the cauliflower for 5 minutes. Remove from the water and add the potatoes; boil those for 5 minutes.

In a food processor, puree the apple, garlic, ginger, and jalapenos together. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven and saute the onions with the pureed apple mixture until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the curry powder and flour, and cook an additional 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk and broth along with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, add back the cauliflower and potatoes, lower the heat to medium, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

Add the peas and cook for 3 minutes. Serve with hot cooked rice.

Butternut squash curry

This is a great four-ingredient curry; five if you count the olive oil.

1 big butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced into a small dice
1 can coconut milk
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons curry powder

Heat a couple tablespoons of a neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn (instead of olive oil) in a big pan with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat, and add the garlic and curry. When the garlic starts to color, add the squash and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over low until the squash is tender, about 15 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat to medium-high, and let the liquid reduce down, stirring occasionally, 5 to 10 minutes. When it's thick and saucy, salt and pepper to taste, and serve with cilantro and rice.

Sun-dried tomato risotto

In the depths of a New England winter, eating vegetables can be challenging. Your body is crying out for starch, starch, starch, and fat all the time, the veggies in the supermarket are crap, and the local options consist largely of potatoes and onions.

Fortunately, there are pantry options. One of these is sun-dried tomatoes (the kind packed in oil). Healthy, nutritious, and something that can hang out in the back of your cabinet almost indefinitely. Great with pasta, risotto, pizza, whatever.

And since risotto can be thrown together at a moment's notice, this is a great cheap winter dish.

1 large handful sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1 cup white wine
Broth
Parmesan cheese

Use a little oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes to saute the onion until soft. Add the tomatoes and the rice, cook for another minute, then deglaze with a cup of white wine. When the wine has all been absorbed, start adding broth (chicken or vegetable), a cup or two at a time, stirring in between. When each addition of broth has been absorbed, add more. Repeat until the rice is done. Stir in a dollop of heavy cream (optional) and a handful of shredded parm. Salt and pepper to taste.

Crawfish etouffee, redux

Okay, okay. I know I've already written about crawfish etouffee once (just about this time last year, in fact). But I made that version with some really terrible Chinese crawfish, and this time, I used good ol' Louisiana crawfish. Admittedly, frozen, but the difference was night and day.

Also, I used Donald Link's recipe, and it was so much better.

1 stick butter

1 medium onion, diced

3 celery stalks, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

2 hot peppers (I used jalapenos), diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons each salt, paprika, black pepper, thyme, red pepper flakes, and cayenne

2 pounds crawfish meat

4 bay leaves

1/4 cup flour

juice of 1/2 lemon

4 cups crawfish or other seafood stock (I used a little fish stock and a little vegetable stock)

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Add the onion, celery, peppers, garlic and seasonings and cook until softened, 3-4 minutes. Add crawfish meat and the rest of the butter and cook until butter is melted. Sprinkle the mixture with the flour and stir. Add crawfish stock and simmer 15-20 minutes, until slightly thickened. Add lemon juice, and serve over rice with fresh parsley and hot sauce on the side.

 

Boudin-stuffed cabbage rolls

I can't believe no one's ever done this before.

Traditional stuffed cabbage rolls (a Jewish staple) are stuffed with a mixture of ground beef, rice and veggies (onion, carrot, celery, maybe a parsnip) and slow-cooked in a tomato sauce. Hearty, filling, real winter fare. I was poking around in my fridge the other day and realized I had a head of cabbage that needed to be used up. But I wasn't in the mood for either slaw or soup.

"Stuffed cabbage rolls!" says I.

"But I don't have any ground beef," I told myself.

"Pshaw," I scoffed, "I have this boudin right here. All thawed out even."

And boudin, as we all know now, is a loose pork-and-rice sausage. All I had to do was add the veggies, and voila! Instant cabbage roll filling! With pork, and spices, and yumminess!

For those of you without boudin, any other kind of ground meat is just as good.

1 head of cabbage
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 lb ground meat (or pork, or boudin filling, or whatever)
1/2 cup uncooked rice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
salt and pepper
tomato sauce or juice

Core the cabbage by cutting out the core from the bottom, leaving the head intact. Put the head in a bowl and pour a pan of boiling water over it. Let sit.

Meanwhile, saute the carrot, celery and onion in a little olive oil until soft. Transfer to a bowl. Add the meat, rice and tomato paste and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

Fill each cabbage leaf with a 1/4 cup or so of the mixture (you may need to cut out the bottom inch or two of the center vein) and wrap into a small roll. Fill a pan with the rolls. Add enough tomato sauce to just cover the rolls, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 45 minutes. Serve immediately.

Freezes beautifully.

Fried rice with bok choy

Fried rice (like soup) is a great way to use up random bits of veggies. I used a green bell pepper, a carrot, an onion, half a bag of frozen peas, some ginger, and two heads of bok choy, but your mileage may vary. You could use almost anything (corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, etc.) in this. Tofu would be great, too.

I made a double batch of basmati rice (2 cups uncooked) and let that sit for half an hour or so before throwing this together.

Rice
A few tablespoons of peanut oil
1 small chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper
1 chopped carrot
A thumb-sized piece of peeled, chopped ginger
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 heads of bok choy (optional)
Frozen peas
2 eggs
Sesame oil and soy sauce

In part of the peanut oil, saute the onion, carrot and bell pepper for a few minutes until soft. Remove that to a bowl. Next, more oil, and saute the bok choy (if you're using), and remove that to a separate bowl. Next, more oil, saute the peas for just a minute, and add to the onion bowl. Next, more oil, the ginger and garlic. Add the veggies back in. To that add the rice, a little at a time, stirring as you go. Add the eggs in the center, and stir to scramble/incorporate. Add the sesame oil and soy sauce to taste, mix together, and serve with the bok choy on top.

Herb risotto

One of the most amazing things about gardening is being able to cut handfuls of fresh herbs whenever you want. When we returned from our vacation in New Orleans, there wasn't much in the house (we'd cleaned out the refrigerator before we left), and were expecting houseguests in a few days--so I wanted to wait until the last minute to go grocery shopping.

So I made herb risotto for dinner, using pantry staples (arborio rice, an onion, chicken broth, parmesan) and handfuls of fresh herbs from my backyard: parsley, basil, chives, tarragon, hyssop, marjoram, thyme, and mint.

I made a standard risotto and threw all the herbs in at the last minute. The great thing about this is that you can use whatever you have on hand, and it will still be marvelous.

Cajun brown jasmine rice

Another Louisiana find: homegrown cajun brown jasmine rice (which is a combination of jasmine rice and native red rice). Here's a New York Times article about it.

After that article, my sister has been on the lookout for that rice at farmers' markets, and she finally found some for me. I had it for dinner last night. Nutty, flavorful, delish, I love it. Of course it can't be found anywhere outside Louisiana.

Speaking of Louisiana, I went to a bunch of amazing restaurants. Stay tuned for full details.

Ricotta risotto with dandelion greens and speck

The speck was an inspired touch.

Speck is a kind of thinly sliced cured pork. The finished risotto was full of fresh dandelion greens, and therefore a touch bitter, so I piled some speck on top and hoped for the best. The fatty richness of the meat offset the bitter greens perfectly. Next time I won't pile them on top, I'll work them all the way through.

Note: because the ricotto is a gloppy cheese, make sure all the broth in the risotto is fully absorbed before adding it. Otherwise you'll end up with something closer to soup.

Standard risotto-making applies. (Onion in oil; arborio rice; add broth and/or wine and stir until rice is done and liquid is absorbed.) About 2/3 of the way through the process, add a chopped bunch of dandelion greens. At the end, stir in about 1/2 cup of ricotta, plus the usual big handful (or two) of shredded parmesan.

If adding speck (or proscuitto), slice into thin ribbons and stir in just at the very end, right before serving.

Pea, zucchini and bacon risotto

  

I've been getting bags of sugar snap peas in my CSA box for the last two weeks now, meaning I had about two pounds' worth of peas to get through. I also had three zucchini, two of which I used for the zucchini-potato frittata, so I decided on a simple springtime risotto.

The basic risotto recipe is simply arborio rice, an onion (or shallot), parmesan, and broth and/or wine. Saute the chopped onion in olive oil until soft. Add a cup of arborio rice to that and toast for a minute. Add a splash of white wine to deglaze.  

Add more wine and/or broth, in small amounts, and keep stirring so that the rice absorbs most of the liquid between additions. When the rice is done, and the liquid is mostly gone, add a couple handfuls of parmesan cheese, stir and eat.

In between all that, you can add whatever you like to flavor it. I added the peas and the sliced zucchini about 2/3 of the way through, and added crumbled cooked bacon at the very end.

The dish ended up being more vegetable than rice, but I'm okay with that.