Tuesdays with Dorie: Black & White Arborio Rice Pudding

First let me say I adore rice pudding. It is pure creamy comfort in a bowl. But oh how I wish I had read the P&Q before making this one!

I did a few double takes while reading this recipe. First at just 1/4 cup of rice with that much liquid for 4 serves. Ummmm, what the...? Next at just 30 minutes cooking time to absorb 80% of the liquid into such a teeny tiny amount of rice? Eeek.

I have made rice pudding with arborio many times and we always have it in the pantry. The parboiling worked well but there simply was not enough rice. Even after close to 50 minutes cooking time it was still pretty soupy and never really thickened in the fridge.

The taste test ...

Despite the soupiness this was lovely. I much preferred the plain vanilla to the chocolate, partly because the chocolate flavour was too intense but also because it ended up with an odd grainy texture which was not at all appealing. Let the record show that N disagrees with this point - he is all about the texture. So, next time more rice, more cooking and less chocolate. Then we will have a winner!

Thank you to Isabelle of Les Gourmandises d’Isa for this week's pick. Even the weather cooperated, with temps dropping from mid 30s to low 20s (celsius). Perfect for rice pudding!

Next week: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Kugelhoph

Another first for me this week but this one was an absolute winner! Considering I have never made brioche and breadmaking is generally a bit hit and miss I was delighted with how this turned out.

I used a fluted tube pan which was conveniently exactly the size needed so I didn't need to fiddle with baking times etc. While it rose beautifully (I leave the bowl in the oven with the light on) I was a bit concerned by how soft the dough was. The instruction to "pull the sides of the dough away and let it slap down in the bowl" didn't happen because as soon as I touched it I was left with sticky stringy cobwebby bits of dough stuck all over my fingers. After it's final rise in the pan before baking I was still concerned by the consistency because it wobbled like a bowl of jelly, unlike any dough I've ever seen before!

Still, you can't argue with results and this was divine.

The taste test ...

Warm, incredibly buttery and very delicate. I love fruit breads so I left the raisins in and also added the zest of an orange to punch up the fruit flavours. This also helped to give a lovely golden colour. To be honest it really didn't need the soaking in butter at the end but I really wasn't complaining as I licked my fingers clean after my third piece!

I will definitely be making this again. And again and again and again. Yum!

Thanks to Yolanda of All Purpose Girl for this week's pick.

Next week: Arborio Black & White Rice Pudding.

Spreading the Love

I have been very slack in posting a couple of blog awards I received recently. Which is even more shameful considering how gleefully I received them. It's the nicest thing in the world to receive a compliment, which is essentially what all blog awards are, so now it's definitely time to spread the love and pass them on.

Firstly from Karen of Something Sweet by Karen came the E is for Excellent award way back in September. Karen is one of my favourite bloggers and I was stunned that the day she received her award she was considering deleting her blog! That would have been a real loss. Make sure you check out her site if you haven't already for yummy recipes, great stories and truly beautiful photography.

I have picked 5 blogs to pass this on to:

Sass & Veracity

Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Joy the Baker

What Geeks Eat

Mevrouw Cupcake

Next more recently came the Yum-Yum Blog Award from Cakelaw at Laws of the Kitchen, a fellow Australian who whips up yummy (usually sweet) treats on an amazingly regular basis. It's always a pleasure to stop by for some inspiration. I'm not sure what the rules are for this one but I have picked another 5 blogs to pass this one on to:

The Food Librarian

Lemonpi

Something Sweet by Karen

Engineer Baker

Veronica's Test Kitchen

Over the next few days I will get around and let everyone know!

Dinners

Despite the lack of posts over the past week or so I have actually been cooking. And I've managed to make some pretty tasty dinners despite the recent development of light headedness practically every evening. Blah.

So in no particular order (and without recipes because to be honest I just made this stuff up) ...

Chicken Caesar Salad with giant homemade croutons, bacon and lots of crispy cos lettuce

Quick ham and asparagus macaroni cheese

Herb and mustard marinated pork steaks with herbed couscous and greek yoghurt

Chargrilled greek style chicken with rice and coleslaw

Quick vegetable fried rice with bbq pork belly

Yummy!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Rugelach

I have to admit I had never eaten, seen or even heard of rugelach before this week. I actually don't even remember seeing them in Dorie's book when I first flicked through so I had no idea what I was going to find!

While I intended to make them exactly as in the recipe, time and energy ran out so I made do with what was in the pantry ... strawberry jam, flaked almonds, 72% cocoa chocolate and no currants.

I loved the dough. LOVED. Well I love anything with cream cheese actually and ate quite a few little chunks of it while I preparing the dough ... for quality assurance purposes of course!

I also rolled the dough into a (rough) circle but got nowhere near as many triangles as Dorie suggested.

The taste test ...

Hmmm. I have to say these really weren't my favourite thing. They were ok. Not great, but nice. Not sure if that was the combination of ingredients or just me. I can definitely see potential for making them with other fillings and the dough would be fab in a whole range of things. I think it needed a sweeter chocolate too.

Oh well, can't love everything and I'm glad I had a go!

Thanks to Piggy of Piggy’s Cooking Journal for this week's pick. Make sure you check out the other TWDers for better results than mine.

Next week: Kugelhoph!