Salted Caramel Rice Pudding
cozy comfort
Comfort food is the name of my game right now and one of the most comforting foods I can think of is pudding. Specifically rice pudding, soft and creamy and mushy and fortifying. When I’m cold and tired and stressed there is something so nice about food that you barely have to chew. Soft steamed vegetables, soup, tofu, braised meat, I think you get what I’m saying.
This pudding has a little secret that I learned from Brian Levy’s book Good and Sweet. After the pudding is cool, you fold in a bit of whipped cream. Genius! Folding in the whipped cream makes the rice pudding (which admittedly can sometimes be a bit stodgy) light and ethereal, and a pour of salted caramel brings it right back down to earth. His rice pudding is sweetened with pears and raisins which sounds absolutely delicious too. All of the recipes in Good and Sweet are sweetened with fruit and other natural ingredients, so cool.
I also added bits of pomelo to each serving of pudding because pomelos are in season and their bright flavor is welcome in each creamy bite. You could use pretty much any seasonal fruit here, salted caramel is thankfully always in season. I highly recommend keeping a jar in your refrigerator at all times. The recipe below will make a bit more than you need for the pudding, but I’m sure you’ll find a way to use it up.
The pomelo takes a bit of work to excavate from its thick peel and pith, but it is oh so worth it. Each segment is full of citrusy, sweet and floral flavor - like a grapefruit, but sweeter. I like to pull the skin and pith back and use my hands to pull the segments out, but you can cut it into supremes for a neater presentation. I love an excuse to rip the food I am about to eat apart with my hands. Like smashing cucumbers for a salad, eating steamed artichokes leaf by leaf with butter or cracking Dungeness crab and savoring each sweet and briny bite. Just me?
Have a cozy weekend. Take care of each other out there.