Vanilla Flavoured Creamed Rice Pudding

The recipe below is adapted from Le Gavroche cook book and the iconic restaurant of the same name, for so long part of the London establishment, but which has recently closed its doors to the public.

This is a very easy way of making rice pudding where you just boil the milk with the rice, sugar and vanilla beans all together, until the rice turns tender enough. Then it is finished off with some butter and condensed milk, making the consistency of the pudding indulgently creamy and gleaming.

I like to off set the sweetness by serving the pudding with some cherries in Kirsch, which I tend to buy from Fortnum & Mason.

Serves 6:

• 225 g of rice pudding
• 500-700 ml of milk, full fat
• 80 g of sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, cut lengthways, the beans scraped out
• 50 ml of double cream
• 120-150 ml of condensed milk
• 50 g of salted butter (or regular butter plus a couple of pinches of salt)

Rinse the rice in cold water and drain.

Bring 500 ml of the milk to the boil with the vanilla seeds (and the pod) and the sugar.

Add the rice and simmer for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. You may have to add more milk to keep the rice mixture moist.

Once you are happy with the rice set the pudding aside for 5 minutes.

Finish it off by stirring in the butter, cream and condensed milk (adjusting the quantity to your individual preferences).

Serve the rice pudding warm; instead of the cherries in alcohol you could always use baked stone fruit – like plums or peaches,  alternatively dust the top with some cinnamon or place a dollop of your favourite marmalade and stir.