RICE PUDDING

Good Afternoon to you,

One of my favourite puddings as a child, was Rice Pudding, made with full fat milk, pudding rice, sugar and a touch of nutmeg.

This was a very popular pudding when I was a child and I was very lucky as both Ivy and Phyllis made lovely rice puddings.  I think rice pudding was  so very popular, because using just a few ingredients, it was a pudding which was filling, and which would stretch quite a long way and when you  had a growing family to feed, puddings such as this, were very useful to have in your cooking repertoire.

Remember these were the days when we called a pudding,  a pudding and not a dessert..... that came much later.  

I have grown older, and I have to tell you, I still love rice pudding, and I am pleased  to tell you, so does George.  So today as part of George's Valentine's gift I am going to be making,

a deliciously, creamy, Rice Pudding.

At the start of winter, I bought a huge bunch of rhubarb, which I froze to make rhubarb crumble.  I was thinking about what to add to the rice pudding, when I remembered I had just a single portion of frozen rhubarb left in the freezer, so I thought I would use it today. 

The addition of rhubarb is going to sit well with George as he loves rhubarb.

So it is on with the apron, and the music I have chosen to listen to today is,

the Country and Western singer, Garth Brooks.  The first time I heard of Garth Brooks was when I visited Atlanta.  Natasha had placed a portable radio in my bedroom, and knowing how much I love listening to music, had tuned the radio in to a Country and Western station. 

At the time my knowledge of Country and Western music was very limited. I had heard of Jim Reeves, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, but that was about the extent of it.  Then I listened to the Country and Western station and I discovered a different genre of music which I thoroughly enjoyed.  

Do you know who else enjoys listening to Garth Brooks.... Phyllis. When there is housework to be done, she pops Garth Brooks onto her player and then she bops around the room, doing her dusting and cleaning.  She tells me, whilst she is listening to Garth's music, boring housework, isn't so boring anymore, as she sings along to the music.... I wonder where I get my love of music from..... I just can't imagine.

The few ingredients I need, are ready and waiting to be turned into a delicious rice pudding.

INGREDIENTS

200g pudding rice

575 ml of milk

300 ml of single cream

1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg

A little butter to butter the dish

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

75g of caster sugar

HOW TO MAKE

RICE PUDDING

Place

the milk and the cream

into a saucepan

and

add the 

sugar

then

add

1 teaspoonful of vanilla extract

and

add 1/2 teaspoonful of

grated nutmeg

and

the rice.

Place the saucepan onto a medium heat
and keep stirring until just before 

the milk mixture reaches boiling point.

Remove from the heat.

Butter a dish

and gently ladle the contents of the

saucepan into the dish.

Place in the oven at 140C

for 50 -60 minutes

or until the rice is cooked

and becomes soft and creamy.

If you don't like the skin which forms on the 

rice pudding, just gently pull it back with

a spoon.

But if you are like George and I,  and you like the skin
then leave it intact.

Allow the rice pudding to cool a little

then,

spoon into a dish

and enjoy it

just as it is,

or

add a little stewed rhubarb.

The sharpness of the rhubarb works

really well with the soft, creamy texture of the 

rice pudding.

By now you know about me and my sweet tooth, so you will not be surprised to learn that, as a child, my favourite topping, would not have been rhubarb, oh no, thank you, it would have been strawberry or blackcurrant jam, which was made by Ivy. Remember, when I was a child, we did not have chocolate very often, as chocolate was a treat, which we were given as a gift at Christmas or Easter time, and certainly not everyday. So my "sweet fix" came from jams.

Jam would not sit well with George as it is much too sweet, but I do know he will thoroughly enjoy the tartness of the rhubarb.

So this is my second gift to George..... and you might have guessed, a little gift to myself as well.

So take care and I will see you later in the week.