Sunday Brunch Idea

In attempting to do something different for breakfast than the usual eggs & bacon routine that seems to be common but not common for me, I did some research yesterday on the net and even pulled out a few of my recipe books in hopes of finding something interesting and different. 

Ok, so Arroz Con Leche, loosely translated as rice with milk, is rice pudding.  Rice pudding?  How is that supposed to interesting, right?  Well this is a Baked Rice Pudding.  I found it in one of my cookbooks, Breakfast Heaven, which I had found by accident at Barnes & Noble for what seemed like a steal.  I, of course, made some changes to it (I wouldn't be me if I didn't); the preparation & baking time, however, stay the same.  First I will post the original recipe, then mine will follow:

Original

Ingredients:

5 Tbsp short-grain rice
3 Tbsp brown sugar or 2 Tbsp agave syrup
1 strip lemon zest or 1 vanilla pod
4-1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
2 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Generously butter a 1 qt ovenproof dish.

Put the rice, brown sugar or syrup and lemon zest or vanilla pod in the dish.  Gently pour in the milk and stir.  Sprinkle with the grated nutmeg over the surface of the milk and dot with butter.

Carefully transfer to the oven and bake for 45 minutes, stir

Let cook for another 75 minutes by which time a brown crust will have formed and the rice will be fully cooked.  Served hot or cold.

Makes 6 servings.


My Version

5 Tbsp Arborio rice
3 Tbsp light brown sugar
1 strip lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla
4-1/2 cups 2% milk
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 cardamom pods, gently crushed, 
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick
2 Tbsp reduced fat butter (I prefer Kerrygold Irish Butter)

As previously stated the prep is the pretty much the same with the exception of putting the additional ingredients as follows:

Put the rice, brown sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, ginger & cardamon pods in the dish.  Gently pour in the milk and stir.  Sprinkle with the grated nutmeg over the surface of the milk, put the cinnamon stick in the middle and dot with butter.

Let me share with you that Chris and I both enjoy exotic flavors, hence the cardamom and ginger tweaks.  It is not a secret that I am a huge fan of HEB; I absolutely love the wall of spiced they have (I should take a pic one day of this).  You can go there, grab a baggie, grab a spice jar and fill it up as much as you want; then you put it on the scale, enter the code on the jar & print out your price tag.  This is so much more economical than buying the jars on the shelves; trust me, this is way cheaper!  I have picked up so many different spices, which was especially convenient for me when I made phở.  I have cinnamon sticks, fennel seeds, cardamon pods, ground cardamom, cream of tartar, all kinds of exotic salts, star anise and the list goes on and on!

Lucky for me, I have this handy dandy beautiful glass jar from Teavana, of which we are huge fans of as well; this jar is practically free when you buy the jar of their German Rock Sugar.  I was making trips to Teavana quite frequently for the girls at my last job to pick up orders and ended up with a few of these jars; I gave some away and wondered what I was going to do with the ones I had.  So, I filled one up with rice and this one has served well as a spice jar.  But I digress..

Here is the finished product:

I can see where adding 1 cup of raisins or dried cranberries or currants or any dried fruit before baking would add a delightful addition to this dish.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we did and I baking it.

Until next time, Happy Eating!