Recipe CXXXII - Traditional Baked Rice Pudding

One of the abiding memories of my youth was the Sunday roast dinner and my father's party piece was his rice pudding, which he would nail week after week, and there would still be some to nibble on as late as Thursday. His recipe used evaporated milk, which gave it a creamy tang, but I make it with a few other ingredients. Every traditionally made rice pudding has that dark brown layer on top, which is ground nutmeg, and is essential to the authenticity of this most British of desserts.

Ingredients (* = optional) to make enough to fill a baking tray: 

250 g dessert (short grain) rice

1 l whole milk (3.4% fat)

250 ml full cream

1 vanilla pod

25 g to 75 g brown sugar

25 g to 75 g white sugar

1 nutmeg plus grater

* Cinnamon

* Five spice

* Some sultanas, diced apples or pears

* Some saffron

Some butter to grease the baking tray

Instructions:

Put the oven on to 150°C max, and butter a baking tray with minimum 7cm-high sides. Put the milk and cream into a saucepan and gently heat it up, making sure it doesn't boil.

Cut open the vanilla pod and scrape the contents into the pan, then throw in the pod. Once it is about to boil, remove it from the heat and let it settle for a few minutes.

While you are waiting for the mink and cream to heat up, put the rice and both sugars into the baking tray. At this point, you can also add any other of the optional ingredients. Then pour the milk and cream over the top, and give it a good stir so that it doesn't end in overcooked clumps of rice.

Grate or sprinkle as much nutmeg on the top as you want. Really, it's the most essential thing - the rice pudding without the nutmeg layer is like pasta without sauce.

Finally, put the baking tray in the oven for two hours or so (possibly half an hour longer), when the rice pudding should be soft and creamy with a splendid nutmeg roof. 

It is great both just out of the oven or cooled in the fridge. If it is done right, when it is cold, you should be able to cut slices with it, which you can serve to children in portions like sweetie bars. They love it with some jam.

Put a layer of tin foil over it, if you want to keep it in the fridge.

Apart from that, enjoy changing the ingredients slightly each time. I love the pure creaminess of a plain rice pudding, but I find cinnamon and five spice really do it for me. I also love to cover mine in brown sugar to eat.

Recipe XCV - Spicy Tea, Chai Masala

Chai Masala is a pretty special tea made with the most flavoursome ingredients, and in southern Asia varies from region to region, household to household. Every tea maker has his/her own way or favoured combination. The ingredients you can use range from star anise to peppercorns, and depending on the quantity, the flavour you want can be reached by adding more of one or less of another. I am making my own preference, so the ingredients below are how I like mine.

Ingredients (for 10 cups):

3 to 4 cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

15-20 green cardamoms

1 tsp ginger

15-20 black peppercorns

Water:milk ratio = 2:3

2 teaspoonfuls of tea per person

Sugar to taste

Instructions:

Put the cardamoms whole into a blender.

And the peppercorns too.

Add the other ingredients and give it a spin for a minute or two until it is pulverised. You can always use your own coffee grinder, which is very effective.

Once it is all nicely crushed, you can keep it in a jar until you need it.

Take a saucepan and fill it with the water and milk you need depending on the amount of cups you require. Put half a spoonful of your mixture per cup into the saucepan and heat until nearly boiling but not quite. Once nearly boiling, add the tea; two teaspoonfuls per cup, and don't forget to add sugar either now or once in the cup.

Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, and then strain into the cups.

The perfect warm drink for sitting outside in the still cold spring air.

Recipe XCIV - Carlsbad Dumplings

Who finds it strange that I'm publishing two non-meat recipes in a row? I certainly do. But this week's recipe is as good as having meat or potatoes, and is incredibly tasty, easy to make and is perfect with a nice creamy sauce, whether made of wine, mushrooms, or like I did, fennel and honey with a nice piece of duck breast. The Czechs call this recipe Karlovarský knedlík.

Ingredients:
10 slightly stale white bread rolls (the Czechs use a roll called a rohlík, but half a crusty white loaf will do nicely)
4 eggs
250ml-300ml milk
3 slices of butter
A sprig of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Equipment:
A large round bowl with a handle
A potato masher
Some clingfilm
A chopping board

Instructions:
Put the chopped up bread, including crusts, into a bowl. Put a generous helping of salt on it. Then add the eggs, milk, parsley, butter and pepper.



Get your potato masher and give it a thorough stamping until the mixture is consistent; it should not fall out of the bowl when turned upside-down.



Cut off some clingfilm and spread it over a chopping block. Then scoop the dumpling mix onto it, making sure it's long enough for everything to fit in.



Wrap the clingfilm round the dumpling mix, removing all the air and twist the ends until it forms a thick, sausage-like shape. You might feel more comfortable wrapping two lots of clingfilm round it, so any gaps will be in different places. That's what I did. Steam it for a good half an hour.



Remove the clingfilm and put it on a flat surface. Slice it up into 1.5cm-thick slices and arrange it nicely on the plate.



I made duck breast with fennel and honey sauce to accompany the dumplings, but rabbit, beef, pork or venison would go nicely too.



If you want to play around with the ingredients, I'd recommend sage and onion, or dried apricots and hazelnuts instead. Seasonal ingredients are always fresher and tastier, but go with your instinct as there are so many combinations. However, the Carlsbad version is pretty special.

Recipe LXXI - Bread and Butter Pudding and Custard

Yes, you read that right. Bread and butter pudding; the childhood memory of most British adults who went to a school with a good kitchen. And here's the thing: with the UK being this year's country of focus, it heartened me a lot to read reports of its culinary resurrection. The UK has always been a pioneering food nation, but this is back to basics.

Whilst I was in London a few weeks ago, I went to "Fish!", my favourite restaurant, and as I promised, a recipe from their desserts menu. This is it. I love that restaurant's commitment to excellent food without the pretentiousness and stuffiness of many quality establishments.
It is so simple, so delicious and so pleasing to the eye and the stomach that it is a wonder that it has not ventured out of the English-speaking nations. You hardly need anything for it, and it
makes a truly lovely setting on the table after a delicious dinner.

Ingredients:
A bag of sliced bread (but you can do your own, for example sweet bread, panettone or something similar)
A block of butter
3 to 5 eggs
About 0.5 litres of milk
3 to 4 tablespoons of sugar
Some vanilla essence or sugar
A bag of raisins/sultanas
Some cinnamon powder
A decent baking tray



Instructions:
Put the milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla into a bowl and give it a very good mix. Leave it on the side. Turn on your oven to 180°C.



Cut the crusts off your bread, butter both sides of the slices and start packing them into your baking tray in layers. It's easier to butter one side of the bread before you put it in, then the other side once it's fit into place. Put some raisins onto the first layer, then do the second with more raisins, until you have reached about two-thirds of the way up the baking tray. I used only half the bread, so I'll make some more tomorrow when I've been to the shop for more eggs and milk! You can put some cinnamon in each layer, or just sprinkle the top layer with it.



Then return to your milky mix and give it a good stir before you pour it over the bread and put it in the oven for twenty to thirty-five minutes, depending on your preference. I like the tope slightly burned, so I had mine in for about half an hour.

Serve it with custard (see the second part of recipe LIII for details, or make some from an instant packet, like back at school!)

Recipe LXIX - Parsley Sauce (on fish)

I'm not a great fan of fish. However, my favourite restaurant in the world is under London Bridge and is called "Fish! " and if you know someone who has a fishphobia, that's the place to take them. Their desserts are delicious too, and I'll do one of them soon. This tremendous English recipe, though, is so easy to make and thankfully gives you time to do the rest of your cooking.

Ingredients:
400ml full cream milk
1 bunch of parsley, chopped (keep some of the stalks!!)
1 small onion
60g butter
Up to 150g plain flour
1 bay leaf
A mix of whole and crushed peppercorns
Some nutmeg or mace
a pinch of salt

Instructions:
Cut up your parsley, keeping some of the stalks. They are very, very flavoursome and give such a kick to the sauce. Let's be frank - you an either use a knife to cut it up or you can stick it in the blitzer. I stuck it in the blitzer.
Slice the onion in half. A small one is good as they're much more pungent. Put some milk into a saucepan, and add the parsley stalks, onion, peppercorns, nutmeg (or mace), the bay leaf and salt. Then very slowly heat it up to simmering point. Milk is notoriously volatile boiling, so you need to do this carefully.

 

After a few minutes of simmering, strain the larger bits out and leave the flavoured milk to cool. You can do your fish now. *See after the last photo below for a frying tip for your fish.

 

Once you are almost ready with the fish, it's time to make the sauce, and it'll take just a couple of minutes. Put your butter in a saucepan and in Béchamel-style, add the flour until it thickens. Once this happens, add the milk back bit-by-bit, allowing the fluidity to return, whisking as you pour it in.

 

Add the parsley to the mixture and continue to whisk.

 

Pour it on your potatoes and fish. I made mine very thick, but if you have a lot of visitors and you need a lot more, you just need to add more milk as you whisk. It won't affect the overall flavour. Some people add some lemon juice but I think it's fabulous without.

*TIP: If you decide to fry your fish, cut up some garlic and fry it in the olive oil for a couple of minutes before you add the fish. Remove the garlic first, as it'll just go black and give your fish a burned flavour.