Risalamande

Today’s recipe is a rice pudding served with warm cherry sauce at Christmas time in Denmark. Apart from flaked or chopped almonds, one whole almond is added to the rice. The person, who finds the almond, should save it discreetly until everyone finishes the desserts. Only then, the almond is revealed and the person receives a little gift.

Now, you might wonder why I make a Danish Christmas dessert at this time of the year. It’s all cause of Kiiri, a Polish girl, who has organized a food blog event featuring Scandinavian recipes.

I didn’t follow a particular recipe for this pudding. Reading dozens of recipes on food blogs and other food pages, I have noticed that all of them call for the same ingredients: milk, rice, whipping cream, almonds, vanilla and a little bit of sugar. The quantities of the ingredients have varied from recipe to recipe, but that was actually a good thing as I could adjust them according to my taste. Also, the method of cooking the rice was different in different recipes. Old recipes asked for bringing the rice to boil, removing it from the heat, wrapping the pot in newspapers and blankets and leaving it this way for about 2-2.5 hours or until the rice is cooked. More modern versions just simmer the rice on a very low heat for about 1 hour. Since I have a “keep warm” function on my cooker, I decided to make use of it. I cooked the rice on a low heat for 10 minutes, brought it to boil, removed from the heat and left the pot with the rice covered on the “warming center” on my cooker for about 1 hour.

Making the cherry sauce was a little bit more complicated. Danish people often buy ready sauce, but since I had a bag of beautiful frozen sour cherries at home I decided to make my own sauce. I don’t know whether my sauce is similar to the Danish one or not, but together with the rice it tasted truly delicious. And I was the lucky one who has found the almond :-)

Risalamande

Serves 4

4 cups full-fat milk
1/3 cup (65 g) short-grained rice
½ vanilla pod (reserve the other half for the sauce)
1 cup whipping cream
3 tbsp caster sugar
65 g almond flakes
1 whole almond

1. Split half of the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out the seeds.
2. Place the milk and vanilla in a heavy-bottomed pan. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat. Add the rice gradually stirring constantly.
4. Increase the heat and bring to a boil again.
5. When the milk boils, reduce the heat, cover and simmer on a very low heat for about 1 hour or until the rice is cooked. Stir from time to time, making sure that the rice doesn’t stick too much to the bottom.
6. Leave to cool completely.
7. Whip the cream together with sugar. Fold the whipped cream and almonds into the rice. You can add more sugar or more almonds if you wish. Serve with warm cherry sauce (recipe below)

Cherry Sauce

1 ½ cup (about 185 g) frozen cherries*
½ tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp sugar
½ vanilla pod
1 ½ cup water + 2 tbsp cold water
1 heaped tbsp potato starch (corn starch can be substituted)

1. Place the cherries in a medium saucepan. Add lemon juice, sugar and 1 ½ cup water. Add the vanilla pod. Simmer until the cherries are tender.
2. Combine the potato starch with 2 tbsp cold water.
3. Bring the cherries to a boil. Remove the vanilla pod from the pot. Reduce the heat, and , stirring constantly, slowly pour the water with the starch. Simmer for a few minutes until the sauce thickens slightly.

* I used frozen sour cherries in this recipe, but regular sweet cherries should work as well.

Print the recipe

Recipe in Polish:
Risalamande (duński deser ryżowy)

Risotto with Broccoli and Peas

Most of the people (at least here, in Poland) associate Italian cuisine only with pastas or pizzas, less often with Italian soups, salads, or desserts. But when it comes to rice, most Poles would first think about Asian rather than Italian food. It’s too bad as Italian risotto is one of the most delicious and definitely most comforting rice dishes on earth. It requires a little patience and lots of attention, but it usually calls for simple ingredients and it’s really easy to make.

One of my favorite risotto recipes is Risotto with Broccoli and Peas. I love its mild, well –balanced taste and incredible creamy texture, it's absolutely delicious!!! The recipe originally came from a Polish magazine; I cannot recall now what exactly its title was. Anyway, I’ve altered the recipe considerably.

A few notes to the recipe:
1. For firm and creamy risotto use Arborio rice. Vialone nano or Carnaroli would also work, but other types of rice might become mushy when cooked.
2. I always use bullion cubes in my risotto, if you do so too, make sure you have good quality cubes.
3. You can use the herbs of your choice in this recipe. I used parsley as this is the most common herb in Poland, but herbs such as basil, oregano, thyme will also work well.


Risotto with Broccoli and Peas

serves 4

500 ml (2 cups) vegetable stock
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, grated
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
200 g Arborio rice
125 ml (1/2 cup) dry white wine
300 g fresh broccoli florets
150 g frozen peas
handful fresh parsley, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground white pepper
125 ml (½ cup) heavy cream
to serve:
parmesan cheese, grated

1. Place the broccoli and peas into a saucepan of boiling salted water, cook for about 3-4 minutes. Drain.
2. Bring the stock to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Keep it warm over low heat.
3. Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan. Add the onions and gently cook until begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Do not let the onions turn brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
4. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute.
5. Pour in the wine and simmer for about 2 minutes, stir constantly.
6. Begin to add the stock a ladleful at a time allowing the liquid to be absorbed into the rice before adding more, stir frequently.
7. Cook until the rice is soft and the texture is creamy but each grain is still a bit firm inside, about 25 minutes. Add hot water if you run out of stock. ( I added about 250 ml (1 cup) of water)
8. Stir in broccoli, peas, and parsley.
9. Stir in the cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.
10. Before serving, sprinkle with pecorino or parmesan cheese.

Przepis po polsku:
Risotto z brokułami i groszkiem