The big question any Italian man has when he stands waiting to take his beautiful bride from the arm of his future father-in-law as she turns towards him at the alter is ‘can she cook like my mother?’ No matter what other skills she has, how adoring and how besotted with him she is , if she cant cook the right kind of sugo there will be trouble ahead.
His mother, dressed up in all her finery can’t compete on looks or love, but will always have the upper hand in the kitchen!
It took me a while to learn how to please my man! Although I grew up cooking for my large Italian family, learning form my mother-in-law and his Neapolitan grandmother, I gradually changed my style to reflect the freshness and richness of the traditional food from that glorious sun-drenched coast.
Nevertheless, even after 40 years, Philip has never completely trusted me to feed him in the manner he was accustomed. He has always, just in case of emergency, always stored a tin of Ambrosia Creamed Rice pudding at the back of the pantry…just in case I let him down.
News this week that Premier Foods is having trouble trying to sell the brand I made this delicious baked rice pudding for him- just in case their stocks run out.
Don’t want to make a drama out of a crisis.
Baked Egg Custard Rice Pudding
4 tablespoons short grain pudding rice ( 60g )
1 litre full fat milk
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 large free range eggs
1 vanilla pod ( or half a teaspoon of vanilla extract)
A blob of unsalted butter
Grated zest of unwaxed lemon
Grating of nutmeg
Put the rice and half the milk and half the sugar in a saucepan .
Slit open the vanilla pod and add it to the saucepan, scraping out the seeds.
Bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat for 15-20 minutes until the rice in almost cooked .
Remove the vanilla pod and leave to cool.
Preheat the oven Gas mark 2/ 150oC
Grease an oven proof dish with capacity just over a litre.
Whisk the eggs and stir in the remaining sugar and milk.
Mix the cooled baked rice into this mixture and use a fork to mix everything together.
Check the flavour to make sure it is sweet enough .
Add the gratings of lemon zest and nutmeg .
Dot over a couple of blobs of butter.
Bake in the oven for ¾ of an hour until the custard is baked and is slightly blackened at the sides.
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