New CRC Blog- Must-have Comfort Food

By Julie Cader

Julie is Finance & Administration Manager for the California Rice Commission, and a big proponent of trying new recipes- especially if they feature California rice.

There's nothing like comfort food, especially after a hectic week at the office. So when the crackerjack Ops Team finished fiscal and compliance audits, it was time to turn to comfort food. And with the holidays in full swing, we created our holiday version of comfort food, a yummy rice pudding that included a whisper of nutmeg to the final touch. The following was adapted from Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten’s recipe. And of course, rice pudding is not rice pudding without California rice!

Ingredients

• 1 cup Golden California Raisins
• 3 tablespoons dark spiced rum
• 3/4 cup California Calrose medium grain rice
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 5 cups half-and-half, divided
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 extra-large egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• Dash of nutmeg

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the raisins and rum and set aside—you could even do this first step the night before. (Take a sip of rum for yourself, of course!)

Combine the California rice, salt and water in a medium heavy-bottomed stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to make sure the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Cover and simmer on low heat for 8 to 9 minutes, until most of the water is absorbed.

Stir in 4 cups of half-and-half and add the sugar, bringing to a boil. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, until the rice is very soft and the pudding has become thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir often, particularly towards the end.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg and very slowly whisk in a few tablespoons of the hot pudding to help tempure the egg. Then add the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the pudding and continue to cook for 1 minute. Off the heat, add the remaining cup of half-and-half, the vanilla bean paste, ground cinnamon and the raisins with any remaining rum. Stir well. Pour into a bowl, and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Serve warm or chilled with a dash of nutmeg as a garnish.

Note: We prefer to eat the pudding warm, but it is also great cold and serves really well at a party, portioned in individual cups or buffet style. Recipe yields about 8 to 10 servings.  Enjoy!