The perfect rice pudding – le riz au lait parfait !

I don’t like using such adjectives as “perfect” or “best” when it comes to recipes (even if I often include those words in my online searches :-), but this rice pudding recipe (thanks to Du miel et du sel) is nearly perfect. So much so, that I didn’t even think I really liked rice pudding until I tasted this, and now I ♥ rice pudding! Plus, it is super easy, minus the 40 minutes of cooking time, but it’s worth it.

The recipe said for 6 to 8 persons, but I would say it is more like 4, unless no one is really hungry once the dessert course arrives. And next time I make it, I'm going to double the recipe since it did not last long!

Ingredients (metric)

-1 liter of milk (unpasteurized was suggested, I went with pasteurized, but farm fresh)

-1 vanilla bean

-150 g round rice (do not rinse or pre-boil the rice)

-75 to 100 g sugar (based on your preference, added at the end)

Ingredients (US)

-Approx. 1 quart milk

-1 vanilla bean

-¾ C round rice (do not rinse or pre-boil the rice)

- ½ to ¾ C sugar (based on your preference, added at the end)

It’s probably best to use a heavy bottomed pan with a lid (I used my dutch oven). Cut open one side of the vanilla bean lengthwise and add it to the milk in the pan, and bring to a gentle boil. Then sprinkle the rice over the milk, stir, and bring back to a gentle boil. Then reduce the heat to low so that the mixture bubbles very lightly, barely a boil, and put the cover on, but cracked open a little so the mixture doesn’t overflow. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring once every 10 minutes.

At the end of the 40 minutes, the pudding will still be a bit liquid, but that’s OK. This is when you mix in the sugar (I found that 75g or ½ C was plenty, but you might have more of a sweet tooth than me), then pour the mixture into a bowl, let cool outside of the fridge for a bit, then put in the fridge. The rice pudding can be eaten warm or cold, it's up to you, I liked both!

AWESOME Detox Soup!

What you just read is NOT an oxymoron! I started a detox diet this week (no gluten, dairy, or sugar), well, detox "lite" since my birthday is this week, and the holidays are coming up, but I figured 5 or 6 days of the week in super-serious-diet-mode, plus 2-3 forbidden treats at the weekend should be acceptable. I lost nearly 3lbs the first 4 days of being super serious. Hopefully it wasn’t undone by my birthday dinner – wine, cheeseburger, fries, and cupcakes, which I tried to make up for by running 5k today. But, I had no intention of trying out some kind of gluten/dairy/sugar-free desert recipe for my birthday cake, since I figured that would be a recipe for disaster, lol!

I found this carrot soup recipe on a 3-day detox diet site, 3-Day Healthy Cleanse, I have yet to make the broccoli soup, but I’ll give that a try this week. The soup was SOOOO delicious, well, at least I thought so! I’d even serve it to guests, if I served a soup course, that is. I added a can of coconut milk, but it was perfect without. My version also had 3 shakes of curry and turmeric, plus about 1/2tsp of salt, fresh pepper, 1T of fresh ginger, and I topped it with pumpkin seeds and fresh parsley/coriander. I boiled it all until soft, then took my hand-mixer-thingy and pulverized it.

Bon appétit!

MADELEINES!

I thought for my first blog entry I’d best give you a taste of France…a French recipe from Bon Appétit magazine, of course, but it’s a recipe they borrowed from a boulangerie in Paris, Blé Sucré, so it’s proper French, even if Phil says traditional madeleines are NOT glazed! He was, however, tricked into preferring the glazed version in a taste test of 2 different madeleines, since he thought one wasn’t glazed, HA! One had an orange glaze, the other, lemon, and the former’s glaze was less apparent.

Thanks to Bon Appétit for publishing the recipe:

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/glazed-madeleines

And merci beaucoup to Blé Sucré for their pastry genius:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xg7zi6

I think I gained 5 pounds just watching the video on Blé Sucré’s website, and now apparently I have to go to the 12ème arrondissement of Paris, which I had no plan on visiting, but Phil just told me the Bastille is there, and the boulangerie is one metro stop down, so go I must! They have an amazing looking Baba au Rhum (if you like rum), and the tarte au citron looked magnifique and very moreish!

Below you’ll find the ingredients and directions from the BA website in case you don’t feel like clicking through, and as Julia C. used to say, bon appétit!

P.S. I prefer a lemon glaze (and I imagine you could make the madeleines with lemon zest, instead of orange), so, just replace the orange juice with lemon juice, and voilà, lemon glaze! You could also eat the madeleines sans glaze, but that’s kind of boring, n’est-ce pas?

P.P.S. You'll need a special madelein baking pan, in case that isn't obvious, lol!

INGREDIENTS

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan, softened

1 cup all-purpose flour plus more for pan

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

3 tablespoons whole milk

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

PREPARATION

Whisk 1 cup flour and baking powder in a small bowl. Whisk eggs, sugar, and orange zest in a medium bowl; add milk and whisk until smooth. Whisk in flour mixture to fully blend. Add melted butter; whisk until batter is thick and shiny. Cover and chill batter overnight. (Batter will appear to have risen and will have air bubbles.)

Preheat oven to 450°. Brush madeleine molds with softened butter. Dust with flour; tap out excess. Divide batter among molds, filling each to the top. Bake until madeleines rise, are deep golden brown around the edges, and spring back when gently pressed in the middle, 8–9 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk powdered sugar and juice in a medium bowl. Set a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet. Unmold madeleines immediately onto prepared rack. Let cool for 5 minutes. Dip top (not shell side) of madeleines into glaze; return to rack, glaze side up, and let sit at room temperature until glaze has set, 5–10 minutes.

Recette en français !

INGREDIENTS

140g beurre doux fondu (et un peu plus pour le moule)

125g farine (et un peu plus pour le moule)

1¼ cc levure chimique

2 grands œufs

112g sucre en poudre

½ cc zeste d’orange

3 cs lait entier

95g sucre glacé

2 cs jus d’orange

PREPARATION

Mélangez la farine et levure dans un bol. Avec un fouet à la main, mélangez les œufs, sucre en poudre et zeste d’orange dans un bol moyen. Ajoutez du lait et fouettez jusqu’à la consistance lisse. Ajoutez le mélange de la farine et levure et mélanger complétement. Ajoutez le beurre fondu, mélangez jusqu’à la pâte est épaisse et brillante. Couvrez le bol et mettez au frigo pour la nuit (la pâte va sembler d’avoir montée et il y aura les bulles).

Préchauffez le four à 230°C. Brossez la moule avec beurre mou, poudrez avec farine et tapez l’excès. Divisez la pâte entre les moules, jusqu’au bord. Mettez dans le four jusqu’aux madeleines montent, sont doré sur les bords et rebondissent quand vous les toucher au milieu, vers 8-9 minutes.

Entretemps, fouettez le sucre glacé et jus d’orange dans un bol. Mettez une grille dans une plaque à pâtisserie. Démoulez les madeleines immédiatement sur la grille et laissez refroidir 5 minutes. Tremper le haut (pas la coté coquille) dans le glaçage et retourner (coté glacé en haut) sur la grille et laisser 5-10 min durcir le glaçage.