Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Comfort Food: Lavender Rice Pudding


I've spent the last few days being very sick. Like, stayed in my pajamas all day, went through two and a half boxes of tissues, had to slather lotion on my poor little chapped red nose to keep it from falling off kind of sick. It made me realize that I need to see a dentist, because every time I sneezed it made my teeth hurt.
I started off the week with a sore throat (which I managed to ignore by drinking beer, eating Reese's peanut butter cups and going to see a very cheesy movie), and ended it with sinus congestion, chills, and a headache the size of Milwaukee.

An appropriate mural down the street from our house.
My husband believes that there are two kinds of people: those who call in sick at the first sign of a sniffle, and those who keep working until they're almost dead. I definitely fall into the latter category.

I had promised weeks earlier to take charge of the dessert and coffee for a ladies meeting at my church on Saturday night, so I arranged to have a friend come over in the afternoon to help me bake. By the time she arrived, I looked like a character out of Zombieland and felt like my head was going to explode, but I managed to suck it up and disinfect myself long enough to make a batch of  butterscotch blondies. At that point I should have called it quits, but I insisted on going to the meeting and staying the entire time. My friend sat beside me and looked on in pity as I honked and snuffled, stubbornly refusing to admit defeat. When the meeting was over, I took my streaming eyes and nose and hightailed it out of there as fast as I could. I was halfway home before I realised I'd forgotten my purse.

The moral of the story is - keep your diseased self at home. Stay in your pajamas all day. Sit on the couch and watch six episodes of "Jamie at Home" in a row. Make rice pudding. You'll get the rest and delicious dessert that you need, and your friends won't be exposed to your contagion. Win win.


The thing I love about rice pudding is that it's so versatile - you can really do anything with it. Plus it's like, the easiest thing ever to make. It can be customized in a million different ways. You can make it with almost any kind of rice (even leftover Chinese takeout rice). If you want it creamier, add more milk. I often make mine with coconut milk and a bit of cardamom, which is really tasty! Go the classic route with cinnamon and brown sugar. Add some orange or lemon zest for a citrus-y kick. Branch out with different kinds of nuts and dried fruit. Stir your favorite jam into it. Be a booze hound and add some Baileys or amaretto. The possibilities are endless.



Rice Pudding
inspired by Jamie Oliver

Jamie served his pudding with homemade strawberry jam. I also attempted a strawberry sauce but failed rather miserably, producing something more akin to strawberry glue (recipe therefore not included). I did, however, add a nice little twist to my pudding with some lavender sugar.



To make lavender sugar, put some granulated sugar and (organic) lavender buds in a jar or other airtight container. I used about a tablespoon and a half of lavender for a cup of sugar. Let it sit for a week or two. If you're in a hurry, you can also grind the lavender and sugar in a food processor, which will have the same effect. 

1 cup rice
4-5 cups milk
sugar to taste

Put the milk, rice and sugar in a pot over medium high heat. Bring just to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed. Stir in your chosen extras. Enjoy.

3 comments:

  1. Oh my ... rice pudding and lavender, two of my favourite things. Never would have thought of the combo. Think I will try it when my lavender finally blooms ... if it ever stops SNOWING!

    :)

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  2. Hope you are feeling better now Nicki....I can remember cooking a Thanksgiving dinner with a cold so bad that I had to stuff kleenex up my nose so I could wash my hands and have then unoccupied by tissues long enough to get the turkey stuffed and in the oven. The things we do for food!!!!!

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  3. HA! The phrase "strawberry glue" made me go into a fit of laughter. At school. Where everyone could see me and wonder why I was laughing to myself.
    But it made my day anyway! :)
    Anyway, sorry for your sickness, but glad to hear that you have a lovely new comfort food! I will try to remember to make it the next time I have a cold! (Or the next time I have time!)

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