Rice Pudding
When life throws you milk, make rice pudding.
Browsing through the supermarket, I happened upon a single bottle of milk.
Rah-rah, you think. But it wasn’t just a bottle of milk… oh no, it was Gold Top; that is the creamiest milk you can get your hands on. A blend of milk from Jersey and Guernsey cows, it is little more than cream dressed up in a milk dress.
And it was reduced (it’s posing with its friend, the pudding rice).
I don’t buy it as a rule, because with the amount of coffee we drink, we would surely be propelled to alarming proportions if we went through that stuff the way we go through semi-skimmed, but one lonely bottle. I couldn’t bear to contemplate its fate if someone else bought it.
It was worth more than a gluttonous sloshing over some cornflakes.
So I had a chat with it, give it a name and brought it home.
The boy on the checkout started talking about philosophy and the economy, so all in all, quite a weird shopping experience.
So I got out my beloved ovenproof le Creuset and gave it a good buttering.
Into that I flung 3.5oz pudding rice and 3.5 tblsp caster sugar.
Then the milk. Glug, glug, glugged that over.
Then to the nutmeg. I love nutmeg and I love its little grater with the storage bit in the top for the nutmeg.
It was my Grandad’s. I’m thinking either nutmegs have increased dramatically in size since this was created, or they found out after the first lot came off the presses that there was no nutmeg in the world that would fit in there until half its face had been shaved off, but they thought ‘bugger it’ and churned them out anyway.
Tsk.
So I gave that a good rasping over the top, just to try and get it into its little holder on top.
Still tutting, I put it into the oven (GM3/160C/325F) for an hour. Then I went upstairs and doused the bathroom in limelite and Ian came upstairs to ask me a) why the kitchen was so hot and b) why the timer was beeping.
So I patiently explained that it was hot because the top oven was on and that I was cooking a rice pudding.
Alex then asked what ‘that delicious smell was?’ and its a miracle I actually got past this Spanish inquisition to stir the rice pudding. No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition.
I stirred it, then reduced the heat to GM2/150C/300F and put it in for another hour.
Look. Bronzed and billowing,
but underneath, creamy, glistening and unctuous.
About as traditional a British pudding as you get. Treat yourself. The milk is worth it.
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Rice Pudding
PRINT THIS RECIPE (Opens in a new window)
1 litre gold top milk (or whole milk)
3.5 oz pudding rice
3.5 tblsp caster sugar
nutmeg, to scrape over the pudding
Preheat the oven to GM3/160C/325F
Butter an ovenproof dish (mine measures 10″x7″ and is 2″ deep)
Put the pudding rice and sugar into it and pour the milk over. Lightly stir to combine a little.
Scrape a nutmeg over the top to give a good covering.
Put into the oven for 1 hr. Stir.
Reduce the heat to GM2/150C/300F and cook for another hour.
Remove from oven, allow to cool a little before serving. Can also be enjoyed cold.
For a smaller amount (why?), the quantities are:
1 pint (20 fl oz) milk
2oz pudding rice
2 tblsp sugar
NB. The UK pint = 20 fl oz
The US pint = 16 floz
Hi stepmummy!! i miss rice pudding at granny and grandad jones’ fighting with daddy for the crispy bits!!
I also think you should put the recipe for straw’n'hay and the nutella cake up…yum yum…might give it a go for gem’s birthday!!
Love you!!
xxx
Hi sweetness!
Good idea – I shall get onto those recipes asap! Got any of your own recipes to suggest?
Loveyoubye
A xxx
[...] is another brainwave as a result of a reduced bottle of Gold Top (again). We eat mushroom risotto a lot and I have been having a terrible yearning for a chocolate version [...]