My Greek dinner: rice pudding

It took me two weeks, but finally I can show you the Greek dessert I made for my Greek dinner with friends for Valentine’s Day. It was such a long time I wanted to make the rice pudding again, one of my favorite desserts, but I wanted a Greek dessert… I was wrongly convinced that the riz au lait was French until I found the very recipe into the Greek section of the book of Tessa Kiros’ Falling Cloudberries! Perfect I would say, uh?

And allow me a “I still remember when…” moment, I was such a small foodblogger… it has been over a year since I posted the recipe for the rice pudding, it was on February the 11th, and it was my eighth post and I was still taking measures to photos and how to write. Let me show you the recipe again, changing the proportion of ingredients and cooking times according to Tessa’s directions. The result is very exciting!

::::: RICE PUDDING :::::

Ingredients:

• rice, 250 gr (choose a kind of rice that allows to rice grains to become soft, creamy and sticky after cooking)
• wholefat milk, 2lt
• caster sugar, 12 tablespoons (I was supposed to use 3 tablespoons… but I wanted it sweet!)
• vanilla pod, 1 split open

Put the rice in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Boil for 20 minutes, then drain the rice completely. Pour the milk into a saucepan and when it begins to ripple (the milk actually does so) add the rice and then return to the boil.

Lower the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes, add the vanilla pod and sugar and stir often to prevent sticking. Cook for another hour (the recipe calls for 10 minutes, I needed 1 hour more for the milk to absorb and become a creamy pudding).

Make it rest and and cool completely for at least 15 minutes, then serve warm or cold from the fridge.

I thought about serving it with crunchy muesli or a dusting of bitter cocoa, then the idea of a wine reduction, and with the collaboration of Alessandro we made this delicious sauce!

Ingredients for the wine reduction:

• red wine (it was a Tuscan red wine, I cannot say more, unfortunately), 125 ml
• caster sugar, 2 tablespoons
• cinnamon, 1 teaspoon
• bitter cocoa, 1 tablespoon (Alessandro’s touch of genious)

Heat the wine in a non-stick pan and let it simmer slowly, then add sugar, cinnamon and cocoa. Stir with a wooden spoon and let the wine reduce for about 5 minutes until it becomes a viscous and shiny fluid.

Pour a tablespoon of red wine reduction over rice pudding and eat at once: it is really GOOD, it has a hypnotic fragrance and blends perfectly with the creaminess and sweetness of the rice pudding.

Related posts:

Mum, could you buy me a rice tartlet? The Italian rice pudding tartlets Carnival rice fritters Rice pudding with roast quinces. A spontaneous Christmas Matcha Creme Brulé