Rice Pudding

So I get a call at work on Thursday from my dad to say he found a dirt cheap flight to DC from Knoxville and wanted to fly up. Sure! His favorite thing to do up here is go to Irish pubs with us and drink Smithwick's which he can't get back home. He first tasted Smithwick's on one of his many trips to Ireland so a few years ago when he found out that the DC area would be getting this beloved beer he's been flying up to once or twice a year to see us and get his fill of his favorite Irish beer.

We also take him out for dinner and have found a place he really likes, Ray's the Steaks. And what's not to like about Ray's? I also get to have fun in the kitchen fixing a dish or two of his favorite foods. This time I fixed rice pudding. I found a recipe on the Saveur website. This one took Rice pudding to a new level by taking the cooked pudding and putting it in a baking dish with caramelized sugar in the bottom then baking it. But when I tasted the rice pudding as it cooled, I thought it tasted good enough to stop right there. Maybe next time, I'll go the next step but for now, we'll just enjoy this as it is.

Rice Pudding (adapted from Saveur)
1/8 cup dark rum
3 cups half and half
1/2 cup arborio rice (I used a generous 1/2 cup)
3/4 cup plus 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, separated

Combine milk, rice, 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until rice absorbs all the liquid (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
(This is where I stopped the recipe)

Pour 1/2 cup sugar into a skillet (shake so the sugar spreads evenly), and place over medium-high heat. Cook, without stirring, until sugar begins to melt, about 2 minutes, then stir with a wooden spoon until golden and just beginning to foam, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully pour into an 8" baking dish. Working quickly, before caramel sets, tilt to coat the bottom and sides of the baking dish.

Preheat the oven to 375. Stir egg yolks and rum into the rice. Beat egg whites until foamy. Slowly add 1/2 tbsp. sugar, beat until soft peaks form and fold into the rice mixture. Transfer to the caramelized pan, set pan in a shallow pan of water and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool slightly in pan, then turn out onto a platter. Serve.

Catching Up

As I downloaded some pictures from Saturday night's dinner I discovered some meals from weeks past that I forgot to post. So today I am playing catch up.

I'll start with Saturday night's dinner. Halibut, Saffron rice and Chinese long beans.The halibut came from Trader Joe's. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, cayenne, basil, oregano, garlic and thyme. After heating up the skillet with some grapeseed oil I dredged the fish fillets through the seasoning mix and cooked them 3-4 minutes on each side.

The Chinese long beans were washed, sliced into 2-3 inch segments and gently steamed for 4 minutes then drained. In the same saute pan they were steamed in, I added grapeseed oil, 4 smashed garlic cloves, 5 dried red chili peppers and some crushed Szechuan peppercorns. Once the oil was fragrant I added the beans and sauteed over high heat until they were cooked through, about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile the saffron rice was busily cooking away on a back burner. Biscuit Boy was in charge of the rice. He prepared it by soaking about a 1/2 tsp of saffron threads in warm water. Meanwhile he sauteed some thinly sliced shallots in a pot. Once they were soft, he added the saffron infused water, salt and rice. Dinner in less than 30 minutes.


Next up was Thai Fried Rice. We made this about 2 weeks ago. We picked up some nice looking shrimp from the market along with some cashews, and fresh basil leaves. Three key ingredients for our fried rice.

To prepare this dish, we used 1 cup of uncooked rice. Cook with 2 cups of water. While the rice is cooking, peel and devein the shrimp, season with some salt and pepper and sautee. Set them aside when done. Next set aside about 1/2 cup of cashews, tear up about 1/2 cup of the basil leaves, crush a few dried chilis, slice some mushrooms, finely sliced about 2 cloves of garlic and dice some onion. Set everything aside.
When the rice is done, place it in a large skillet coated with some cooking oil. Add the cashews, chilis, garlic, onion, mushroms, soy sauce and fish sauce. Toss around until everything is well incorporated. Add the basil leaves, give it all a few quick stirs and place it in a serving bowl.

Scoop the fried rice into individual bowls, add some of the cooked shrimp and enjoy.

Finally we come to Steamed Mussels in Green Curry broth. First rinse off the mussels and remove any remaining beards. Check for any chipped, broken or open shells. Discard these.

In a large sautee pan, add green curry and coconut milk (we used premade green curry that we buy in small cans from any of the local Asian markets in the area). Bring to a gentle boil and add the mussels. Place a lid on the sautee pan and let them cook for about 5 minutes or until the shells have opened. Stir in some fresh basil leaves then spoon the mussels into a large bowl and pour the broth over the top. Serve with some nice crusty bread (for sopping up the broth).