The Best Rice Pudding.

People ask me for this recipe more than any other, which is surprising because it's the simplest dish, and everyone has their own version, and they're all delightful. Still, everyone who tries this one says it is the best rice pudding they have ever had. They get excited about it, and rice pudding is honestly not usually an exciting dessert. 

Three easy steps make this so rich and delicate you will want it for lunch boxes and fancy dinner parties both. First, use almost no rice. Give it room to swell, be tender to the bite, and swim around in the milky pudding. Too much rice and it is dense and heavy.  Second- salt the rice while it is swelling in the simmering water- you won't taste the salt, but you'll taste rice, and a balanced flavor with the sweet milk. Third- add heavy cream at very end. It makes all the difference (and there is so much water in the rice that it will not be overwhelmingly rich).

We will need:

4 T/ 40 g short-grain rice- like sushi rice or risotto rice

1/8- 1/4 tsp salt

450 ml/ 2 C water

1 liter/ 4 C whole milk

150-200 g/ 3/4 - 1 C sugar (use the lesser amount if you will be making the syrup)

200 ml/ scant 1 C heavy cream

60 g/ 1/2 C cornstarch

a vanilla bean, or good vanilla extract (easy to make your own!) to taste

Put the rice and the salt in a large pot with the water- it will look like too little rice and way too much water, don't worry- and simmer on low heat until the rice swells and absorbs all the water. The rice should be as full and soft as possible, but without falling apart.

This takes 20 - 30 minutes. Add 3/4 of the milk, and all of the sugar and simmer until it is quite hot. Meanwhile blend the rest of the cold milk with the cornstarch (this is called a "slurry"). Add this to the hot sweet milk and rice, whisking gently all the while, until it comes to a full boil and thickens. Pour in the cream, blending gently:

Add vanilla to taste:

and pout into individual bowls, or one large one. Serve warm, or cool, or chilled, with cinnamon if you like.

But, if you want to turn it into something a little more exotic, Try this:

200 g/ 1 C sugar

1/2 C water

rose water to taste- 1-2 Tablespoons 

a spoonful of corn syrup or glucose if you have it (prevents crystallization)

a drop of red or pink coloring, or a few drops of pomegranate juice

a few pistachios for garnish 

Pour the sugar into the middle of a pot, and surround it with the water (so that no sugar crystals cling to the sides of the pan). Bring to a boil gently, add the corn syrup, and then the rose water, and the faintest toothpick dab (I color a shot of syrup and add it back to control the intensity) of color or a drop of pomegranate juice.

The delicate color of the syrup is beautiful against the snowy cream, and the milky richness of the pudding holds up against the exotic perfume. A couple of green pistachios set it off.

Note: When I am serving the pudding with the rose water syrup, I sometimes flavor it with half a bay leaf rather than vanilla- it gives an elusive masculine perfume, and plays up the distinctly feminine fragrance of the syrup. Some crushed cardamon pods will give this simple pudding some exotic mystery.

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Prunes with Walnuts for Tea Time

An upcoming trip to Istanbul (tomorrow!) has put us in a more exotic frame of mind. Also, we are busy packing. But nothing keeps us from a pretty tea-time. These are simple and beautiful and made really with just two things- the prunes and the walnuts, plus tea and sugar which you already have for tea anyway.

We will need:

As many pitted prunes as you like

As many walnut halves as prunes

Brewed tea to cover the prunes- we used Earl Grey

A little sugar

First, a really good trick:

Check the walnuts- are they sweet and fresh, or a little stale? If they could use refreshing, boil some water, put the walnuts in, remove them immediately with a fine-mesh strainer, give them a shake, and dry them in the oven- ten minutes with a fan should do it, and crisp them a little. The water will have turned reddish-brown with tannins, now leached from the nuts, which will be sweet and fresh tasting (though not have the strong rich flavor of a perfect fresh nut). 

All we do now is cover the prunes with tea and simmer until they swell. The tea will become dark and thick with the juice of the prunes. Remove the prunes with a slotted spoon to a platter. Stuff each one with a walnut half, pretty side out.

To the dark prune-infused tea, add a spoonful or two of sugar. It doesn't need any sweetness, but the sugar will add body and gloss as we cook it down. Boil rapidly until it becomes a thin syrup. This should  only take a moment or two.

Pour the syrup over the prunes for serving. If you have it and want a little more exotic fragrance, spritz them with some orange flower water:

And to keep the motif, and also because the colors go so nicely, slice a peeled orange and dust it with cinnamon. Some strained yogurt, clotted cream, or labneh are just the thing if you want something more filling for tea-time.

When we are having these, we usually use our Turkish tea glasses rather than cups and saucers. 

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Pad Thai that's Quicker than Take - Out

This well-balanced fresh/hot/tangy Pad Thai is a nice break from the heavy holiday flavors of the season. It is also the most reliable recipe for anything I have ever made. Is it perfect? I don't know- but it tastes like really good take-out every time. Writing recipes for savory dishes, especially for people who may not have grown up eating a certain dish, I measure meticulously and assume nothing. That's the idea with recipes- they can just give nudge, an inspiration, if you are comfortable with the dish. If you're not, they can give you a reliable paint-by-numbers result. I never actually measure and follow to the letter Western, Middle-Eastern, and South Asian recipes. Any further east, and my intuition blanks out completely. The balance of flavors is elusive. Fortunately, my mother has this very tattered and treasured cookbook-

 - do exactly as the directions say, measure with measuring cups and spoons, and it will be as good as take-out. I have made this dish dozens of times and it always comes out exactly the same- less tempermental than an all'arrabbiata. The only changes to the original recipe are that I have removed things that I cannot easily get and have learned to live without- the dried shrimp and the fresh bean sprouts (too bad!)- If the dish is poorer for that I cannot tell. It is always fabulous. Also, I put on way more crushed peanuts than she calls for- they make the dish. And I left out the pork too, and added fresh or frozen shrimp. I wouldn't dream of tampering with the sauce or anything else. I have had no trouble finding these ingredients in Thessaloniki, and none of them are particularly expensive.

We will need:

1 package of wide rice noodles- "rice sticks" 400 g/ 14 oz.

500 g/ 1 pound shrimp (cleaned and tail-on are nice)

60 ml/ 4 tablespoons oil

4 cloves garlic

1 yellow onion

2 small dried chiles

30 ml/ 2 tablespoons fish sauce 

30 ml/ 2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground black pepper (measure- it's a lot and provides some heat)

45 ml/ 3 tablespoons ketchup

1 bunch cilantro, leaves only, chopped

4 green onions, chopped

2 handfuls salted roasted peanuts, crushed with a rolling pin

This dish is not difficult- it comes together all at the last minute though, and a mis en place makes it a lot more fun to assemble:

In other words, get everything ready like it is a cooking show-  prepare the fresh things, make the sauce, crush the peanuts, and soften the noodles.

Get out a large strainer and have it ready in the sink. Boil a large pot of water, drop in the rice noodles, stir at once to make sure they are all submerged, and keep stirring for just 60 seconds. Drain and rinse with cold water- the  noodles will be pliable but by no means ready to eat. Blend the sugar, salt, pepper, fish sauce, lime juice and ketchup and set aside.

Saute the garlic, onion, and red chilies in the oil until they just begin to soften, then add the shrimp, stir-frying for a two or three minutes- test one to make sure it is opaque inside. Add the noodles and the sauce, stir frying for another 2 minutes, until noddles are soft. Shower with the scallions, cilantro, and peanuts, and serve hot.

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Nothing Plain About Vanilla When You Make Your Own

Homemade vanilla extract is better than anything you can buy. It looks beautiful in its jar. You have liquor for essence, and seeds from the pods when you want a little black sparkle, and then the pods themselves to perfume your sugar. You will reach for it more often and your desserts will all be the finer for it- as a single note it is exotic and rich- nothing plain about it. With fruits, it brings out the floral perfume of their birth (it is itself a flower- the seed pod of an orchid).

This cherry tart is brightened with rich 
specks of vanilla.

More romance still- it marries the other flavors, buffing their rougher edges, and giving them a strong (discrete) velvety background to play on, especially chocolate:

How to make it? Just find a source of good fresh vanilla beans- a wholesale spice purveyor, not the ones sold in pairs in a glass tube- too expensive, and you can't smell them. At the store, when they open the container, it should knock you out. Heads should turn. Buy as many as you can afford, at least ten, more if you can- they won't spoil.

Now get a bottle of hard liquor- something respectable you would drink on its own, but not necessarily top shelf. I used whiskey here, but rum is also tasty. You could do vodka but I like to start out with something already golden. Put  the vanilla beans upright into a tall narrow jar, and fill it to the top with liquor. It will need a couple of  weeks to develop. use the liquid as you would any commercial vanilla extract. When you can see it- with fruits, with anything white (ice cream, panna cotta, cake frostings, pavlovas)- snip off the tip of a fat liquor soaked pod and drizzle in some syrupy paste filled with exotic-looking black specks.

Keep the pod in the liquor. Every now and then top up the liquor or add some fresh vanilla beans, or both.

It is an investment at the outset, but ultimately much more economical. 

Don't think of it as an ingredient so much as a lasting upgrade in the way you cook. The subtle perfume will delight everything it touches.

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Watermelon rind Chutney- Trash or Treasure? Virtue or Vice?

One of Roz Chast's most delightful cartoons (of so very many) celebrates the seven deadly virtues:

Of these, "uncalled-for thrift" (at 1 o'clock) has a special place in my heart. Bizarre concessions to economy have been made by my sweet but sometimes truly wacky mother in law over the years; Roz Chast's example is a paltry one (I see your dented cans of peas and raise you a strapless vinyl snakeskin harlot mini dress, in red, obviously, for a 14 year old, but a very good price!). Thrift can be a great source of mirth.

But in the kitchen? Thrift- admittedly virtuous- is sad and small; it has no place in the kitchen. Greed serves us better- it's bold, resourceful, dynamic, and it gets us where we want to be. It's much more akin to hunger than thrift is. It was not some prim 'waste not, want not' thought that prompted me to turn those watermelon rinds- compost by any reasonable measure- into this glistening chutney. It was the memory of the first time I tried it in the Gourmet (how I miss that magazine!), the hand of ginger and a few dried chilies still out on the counter from last night's midnight Chinese noodles (we got homesick watching "Do the Right Thing"), and the fresh mint thriving outside the kitchen window (raita), to say nothing of the heat outside on the veranda. This will turn a handful of basmati into a fine little impromptu meal (chile peppers and lashings of hot tea are so curiously refreshing in the damp August heat). If you want to get the very most out of that chicken/watermelon/bunch of parsley or whatever you have on the counter right now, vice (not virtue) delivers very tasty results.

Trash!

Treasure!

You'll be happy with the result. But, having made it before, I didn't do much measuring at all and I used a few different ingredients. For a chutney you need the fruit or vegetable that is to be the bulk of it, plus tang, heat, and sweetness, plus any aromatics you like. It's enormously flexible- just mix it up to your taste, keeping in mind that it will get more intense, yet also more mellow, as it boils down. It's easy to tweak as you go.

This is what went into today's batch:

4 cups/ 1 liter of diced watermelon rind (dark green skin cut away, some pink flesh clinging to the inside)

1/3 C/large handful finely chopped ginger

4 chile peppers

8 whole allspice berries

a small spoonful of pink peppercorns

a little salt

1/2 C/125 ml vinegar

1/2 C/125 ml water

1/2 C/100 g sugar

a little lime zest after it comes off the heat

This is how to make it:

Slice the wedge of rind into strips 3 or 4 cm wide-
this makes it very easy to safely remove the dark green peel.

The peeled rinds with a pretty strip of red flesh still clinging to them.

The peeled lengths can be cut into narrow strips, then diced-
aim for about 1 cm. or a little smaller.

Carefully cut the ginger into thin slices, then do the same thing.

The ginger will be smaller than the melon, but still large enough
for texture and a nice bite of heat.

Dried red chiles, pink peppercorns, whole allspice berries,
and sugar.

All in the saucepan over medium-high heat

Adding the vinegar-

And the water.

After a moment, the melon releases its juices and it looks like this-
more liquid will come as it boils gently, then it will reduce and become slightly syrupy.
Turn it down and stir it once in awhile. after 20-30 minutes, it will look like this:

Translucent melon chunks still have a bit of crisp bite,
with a jammy spicy syrup through to their core.

Really, it's a bit unfair. This is so vice-quenchingly delicious. And yet, it's hard to suppress the feeling of satisfaction from so virtuously making a beautiful thing from something destined for the garbage can with the help of a handful of spices. Oh, I didn't mention- it fills the house with a sweet exotic perfume as it simmers.

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Fresh Anchovies en Saor- A Condensed History of the West

Yes raisins- of course with raisins!

The puckery refreshment of pickled things- so bracing- picks up the palate on a lazy July evening. Fish takes well to pickling, but the results are often a little bit slick in texture (some may even say slimy- I know I have). How to get that full satisfying flavor with its savory and sweet undertones, and still have the toothsome bite that characterizes the breaded and fried? Pickling the breaded and fried fish gives us both, in abundance.

Actually, everything about this dish is abundant: it's hard to find a dish that fills so many desires at once. The fish is densely meaty, the onions still a tiny bit crisp, the raisins tender and juicy. Their marinade- brightness from the lemon zest, depth from the capful of rum, savoriness from the rounds of onion and the needles of fresh rosemary and of course the fishes themselves, sweetness from the raisins and the orange and the allspice (and a pinch of sugar), zesty tang from the lemon juice and a squeeze of vinegar.

This is a powerful bunch of flavors. But your palate will not get tired quickly- for they are smoothed and wedded beautifully by the reliable generosity of fat and starch. The flour dredged fillets, crisped to golden in ample olive oil, have plenty of surface to absorb these vibrant flavors. The result is lively and complex, not assertive or complicated.

Why so few photos?- Well, frankly, fish-gutting is not a very photogenic process. It is quick and easy though, and if you're of a certain disposition, can bring a primal satisfaction. Here's a photo of the fish before we get started:

Silvery fresh anchovies- γαύρος- slightly longer than a finger.

We'll need a half pound/250 g of anchovies- some 30 or 40- to make a nice plate of them. This is not too many- the work will not be overwhelming. A really good thing about anchovies is that they rarely have any scales. If they do, they'll be clinging quite obviously here and there- run a knife along each side from tail to head, just to make sure. Little's nastier than an unexpected fish scale in the mouth. Given them all a rinse in a bin of water, then, one by one, simply remove their heads with a sharp knife, pulling the guts along with them. Another rinse, and we're done with the first part. To remove the spine easily (while punching up the flavor) soak the cleaned fish in vinegar for an hour. Then, you can slit them along the bottom down to the tail, grasp the top of the spine, and quite easily slide your fingers down either side toward the tail, removing it and leaving you with a butterflied fish, or more likely, two halves joined by the tail- which is what usually happens to me. No matter- they'll be just as tasty and not so very less impressive.

As a cm of olive oil heats, assemble the following:

a medium onion, sliced thinly

a bay leaf

8 - 10 whole allspice berries

A few leaves of fresh rosemary

a lemon- zested and juiced

an orange- zested and juiced

vinegar

a little sugar

salt

pepper

a handful of black raisins

A capful of rum (or whiskey)

Leave that browned flour in the pan to flavor the onions.

Dredge the fish fillets in flour, give them a shake, and lay them in a single layer in the sizzling oil- turning once or twice, to ensure they are evenly golden-brown. Scoop them out onto some paper towels, fry the next batch, and possibly a third, and then pour all but a bit of the oil from the pan. there will remain much browned flour in the bottom of the pan along with the oil and this is nice and tasty. Toss the bay leaf, the allspice, and the thinly sliced onions in over medium heat and give them a turn or two, letting them soften a bit. Then add the zests and juices, a pinch of sugar, a squeeze of vinegar, the rosemary, and the raisins along with the rum (it gives a nice base note and smooths the flavors). It will make a nice "koosh" sound. Add the fish and give them a gentle turn so they do not break, and arrange them with their sauce in a dish- good cold, good warm, good the next day and the day after that.

Thanks to the Moors for the raisins and the sweet/sour exotic punch, thanks to the Caribbean for the rum, and thanks to all the fisherman for the anchovies. 

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