Saturday, September 15, 2007

Recipe 17: Rice Pudding

I'm down at our place in Buenos Aires for two weeks with one of my aunts. We invited a good friend (who is also our graphic designer) and his wife over for dinner on Monday night. My aunt wants to make him a traditional Filipino dinner (he loves Asian food); so we're making chicken and pork adobo and pancit -- both of which are probably the most well known of dishes from the Philippines.

Since our kitchen down here is ever so small (and sans oven) we need a no-bake dessert. I thought first about doing a panna cotta with fresh strawberries (since its the beginning of spring down here). But then I recalled Elaine served a rice pudding after her rendition of our Spanish tapas and I was inspired. Creamy rice pudding will be a nice finish to our upcoming meal. I was especially interested in making it down here since the milk and cream here is far better than anything I can find at home -- everything made from the glorious cows in Argentina is simply delicious.

Below is a recipe I found on epicurious.com that received rave reviews (although I'm posting half the milk they called for because of comments related to soupiness). I don't think I've ever finished a rice pudding with egg so I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Plus, there is something quite fall-ish about a creamy rice pudding for dessert. And I will try to make our last recipe which I am delinquent on (the orange-lemon ice cream) and serve it alongside this pudding.

4 cups whole milk
1 cup long-grain white rice (do not rinse)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Bring milk, rice, sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt to a boil in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, until rice is very tender, about 1 hour.

Just before rice mixture finishes cooking, whisk eggs lightly in a bowl. Remove pan from heat and slowly add 1 cup of rice mixture to eggs, whisking constantly. Stir egg mixture into remaining rice mixture in pan, then stir in cream.

Pour pudding into a 13- by 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish (3-quart capacity) and sprinkle with cinnamon. Chill pudding, covered, at least 3 hours.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Raspberry and pinenut cake with youghurt cream


Hello everyone, long time no post!
Here is a cake I took to a friends dinner party the other day. Quite simple to make and devoured by everyone. I got it from a back issue of Aus. Gourmet Traveller.
Raspberries are finishing here as the summer has been terrible but I suspect you will all be able to get them pretty easily still.

150g SR Flour
75g Plain flour
90g ground almonds
250g unsalt butter
220g caster sugar
4 eggs
90g pinenuts
grtaed rind and juice of 1 lemon
360g raspberrries
140g raspberyy jam warmed with T spoon of water

Topping
200g brown sugar
40g plain flour
80g cold unsal butter, chopped


For topping combine sugar and flour in a bowl. Then rub in butter until like coarse breadcrumbs.
Sift flours, ground almonds and 1/2t salt in coarse sieve into a bowl, then set aside.
Using an electric mixer beat butter and sugar unti light and fluffy, add eggs one at a time, beating well....
Stir in flour mixture, 30g of the pinenuts and grated lemon rind and juice until well combined, the mixture will be quite stiff.
Spoon mixture into a greased and base lined 22cm springform tin, level top and bake at 190C for 40 minutes. ( I cooked for less time as it seemed well done so watch your cooking time)
Working quickly, sprinkle topping over cake, then scatter over 240g of the raspberries, reduce oven to 160C and return cake to oven and cook for a further 20 mins until tester comes out clean.
Remove cake from oven, drizzle with warm raspberry jam and press remaining raspberries into the jam, then scatter with remaining pinenuts. Release the sides of the pan and place cake, with base, on a cooling rack.
Serve cake slices with spooonfuls of youghurt cream........
The cake will keep refirgerated in airtight container for up to 3 days

Youghurt Cream
300ml thickened cream
150ml greek stlye youghurt
55g icing sugar

using an electric beater whisk until soft peaks form.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Fresh Blueberry Pie


Open Faced Fresh Blueberry Pie
Bake your favorite pie crust recipe in a pie dish. Cool for 3 min. Beat 1 egg white and brush on the baked pie crust. This prevents the crust from being soggy after you add the filling.
Measure out 1 c. blueberries. Cook them with 1/2 cup of water. Cover and bring to boil. In a small bowl, whisk 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch wtih 2 tablespoons of water. Lower the heat of cooked blueberries once it came to a boil, stirring constantly for 3-4 minutes until blueberries start to burst and juices thicken. Add cornstarch mixture to the cooked blueberries. Then add 1/2 cup sugar,1 teaspoon lemon juice, and pinch of salt. Simmer until translucent. Immediately fold in the remaining 3 cups of fresh blueberries. Spoon into the baked pie shell. Sit at room temp for at least 2 hrs. Just before serving, spread whipped cream around the side of the pie and leave the center just showing the blueberry filling.
Store at room temp for up to 2 days(without the whipped cream)

If you are looking for a light, flaky, and very crisp crust recipe, here's a recipe you will have to try:
8 T. unsalted butter, frozen, cut into little pieces
184 g. bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. baking powder
2.5-3.5 T ice cold water
1.5 t. cider vinegar
Mix flour, salt and baking powder. Sprinkle the butter pieces and rub the mixture between your fingers until it resembles course meal. Sprinkle ice water and vinegar little by little into mixture until the dough holds together. Wrap the dough for at least 45 min in disc form and you are good to go.

These are both out of The Pie and Pastry Bible. Beranbaum's recipes are definitely ones I go back to all the time. Her All American Apple pie comes out the way everyone expects their classic apple pie to look and taste.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Cath: Orange-Lemon Ice Cream


Hello everyone...here's my ice cream from over a month ago! I did use an ice cream maker but I think it was pretty unnecessary and would have tasted the same if I hadn't. Easy and highly recommended if you haven't had a chance to make it. Hope all is well and I look forward to reading more posts this fall!