Rice pudding with strawberries makes a delightful summer dessert. Rice pudding is perfect any time of year but it’s extraordinary when topped with a compote made from fresh, sweet, juicy strawberries. The combination is pure luxury.
Adapted from Ed Smith | Crave | Quadrille, 2021
This is best made to order, although you could cook it in advance to the point before the cream is added, and chill that quickly (in a thin layer in as wide a container as possible), later reheating with a touch more milk plus the cream, until the consistency is suitably molten and flowing.–Ed Smith
Rice Pudding with Strawberries
A stove-top rice pudding is a tiny bit more effort than one baked in the oven, but you do end up with a pure-white and deceptively luxurious result, which is a wonderful contrast to warm, soft strawberries and their ruby-red syrup.
For the strawberry conserve
Make the creamed rice
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Place the rice in a fine-mesh sieve and rinse under cold running water until the water draining through begins to clear, 30 to 60 seconds. Dump the grains into a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Add the milk, vanilla pod and seeds, orange zest, and salt, set over medium heat and warm to a simmer, stirring occasionally to ensure the rice is not sticking.
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Once simmering, reduce the heat to as low as possible. Place a lid on top, leaving it slightly ajar, and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring at first occasionally, then over the last 5 minutes relatively frequently as the ratio of liquid to rice reduces. Remove from the heat.
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Taste the rice. It should be almost cooked through, but still with a slight bite, and there should be a fair amount of liquid remaining, with the grains almost swimming rather than clumping together. If not, add enough milk to loosen.
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Remove the orange zest and vanilla pod, stir in the sugar. Leave the rice to sit and swell further for 10 minutes with the lid on-–returning a couple of times to give it a quick stir.
Make the strawberry conserve
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In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine the strawberries and sugar, mix to coat berries. Warm until the sugar dissolves, then increase the heat to bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook until the strawberries leach a syrupy liquid and are softening but are still bright red and intact, about 2 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes.
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Once the rice has finished resting, it should be soft and luscious, but a little stiff. Add a scant 2/3 cup of cream and stir-–this should ensure that once decanted the rice flows, rather than stands stiffly. Add a dash more cream if necessary (if it seems like a lot more is needed, then add extra milk).
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Serve in shallow bowls, topped with the strawberry conserve.
*What kind of rice should I use for rice pudding?
Rice pudding works best with starchy rice, like arborio or carnaroli rice which are both used for risotto. Risotto is, if you think about it, a savory rice pudding so it stands to reason that it works just as well in a sweet version.
In some places, you can buy a specific version of short-grained rice that’s marketed specifically for pudding. There are lots of recipes that use long-grained rice but the outcome won’t be as rich or toothsome.
Serving: 1servingCalories: 377kcal (19%)Carbohydrates: 67g (22%)Protein: 10g (20%)Fat: 8g (12%)Saturated Fat: 4g (25%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 22mg (7%)Sodium: 7070mg (307%)Potassium: 513mg (15%)Fiber: 4g (17%)Sugar: 30g (33%)Vitamin A: 367IU (7%)Vitamin C: 76mg (92%)Calcium: 269mg (27%)Iron: 2mg (11%)
Originally published August 15, 2021
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