French rice pudding with salted butter caramel sauce (Riz au lait)

Rice pudding is a popular dessert all over the world, especially in France where a special round rice called ‘riz rond’ is used to ensure the pudding has its signature creamy texture. Use arborio rice to make sure yours is luscious too.

• serves

  4

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  40 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 litre milk
• 350 ml whipping cream
• 200 g arborio rice
• 100 g caster sugar
• 4 vanilla beans, halved and seeds scraped

Salted butter caramel sauce

• 200 g caster sugar
• 100 ml cream
• 150 g salted butter, diced

Chilling time: overnight

You will need to begin this recipe 1 day ahead of time

Instructions

1. Place the milk, 200 ml cream, rice, sugar and vanilla bean seeds and scraped beans in a heavy-based saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring regularly to release the starch and to ensure the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. By this time the rice should be completely tender. Spoon the rice into a jar or bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.
   
2. For the sauce, place the sugar in a frying pan over high heat and cook, stirring occasionally until the sugar has melted. Continue cooking, without stirring until the caramel is dark golden. Add the cream, taking care as the mixture will bubble up. Whisk until well combined, then gradually add the butter, whisking until melted and well combined.
   
3. To serve, whisk the remaining 150 ml cream until soft peaks form, then gently fold into the rice pudding. Spoon the rice pudding into serving bowls and drizzle with a generous amount of warm salted caramel butter sauce.

Photography by Blink TV. Styling by Blink TV. Food preparation by Guillaume Brahimi.

From Normandy to the Spanish border, follow Guillaume Brahimi along the French Atlantic at SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.