Barry Family Dinner: Brûléed Rice Pudding

It’s a big week for us. The Milwaukee Irish Fest is coming up this weekend and I’m going back to work mid-week. The best part (for me and the kids) of all of this is that Paul’s sister Cecilia and her husband Michael have been in town to visit and help out with the Festival. Sunday night we had a family dinner, which we try to do most weekends, but it was extra special this time with our guests, perfect weather and the anticipation of the busy week ahead. I made too much food because I forgot that Uncle Mike had to get back to Charlotte for the work week and I kept miscounting plates, bowls and forks all night long, setting a place for him even though I knew he was on a flight.  We ended up eating more than we thought we would, Paul was able to keep Eve from crying all evening long and it was so, so nice, to spend the time together.  Yes, I won the in-laws lottery.

For dinner we had mustard-balsamic glazed chicken, a burrata, basil and heirloom tomato salad, grilled vegetables, including amazing corn from the Farmer’s Market (nothing like superfresh corn in the summer), and for dessert, bruleed rice pudding with dried cranberries.  It was like summer on a plate and made me wish I could eat local heirloom tomatoes and fresh corn all of the time.

About a year ago I bought a kitchen blow torch to make creme brûlée with and now I’m always looking for an excuse to brûlée stuff. We love rice pudding around here, brûléed or not, but the sugar topping makes this homey dessert a little more fancy and adds texture. I gave Emmett a blow torch demo.  He called it my dragon fire blower and made me promise not to put it in his room when he went to bed.

This is my recipe for rice pudding. Doll it up with coconut, fruit, spices, whatever you like.  I love to add tea and chai spices or skip the brûlée and top it with poached plums or pears.  Here, I keep it simple with some vanilla, cinnamon and dried cranberries.

Brûléed Rice Pudding with Dried Cranberries

1 tablespoon butter

⅔ cups short grain rice (I used Japanese style sticky rice because that’s the short grain that I usually have around)

4½ cups whole milk

1 teaspoon salt

2 cinnamon sticks

½ cup loosely packed brown sugar

2 eggs

¼ cup dried cranberries

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste

Turbinado sugar, for serving

Melt one tablespoon of butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan, add rice and cook over medium-low heat for a couple of minutes until all grains are coated in butter.

Add milk, cinnamon sticks and salt and turn heat up until milk-rice mixture begins to boil.

Once the mixture is boiling, turn heat down and simmer mixture for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionaly to make sure milk doesn’t scald, until rice is cooked through.

In a small bowl, whisk sugar and eggs together.  

Ladle ¼ to ½ cup boiling rice mixture into the eggs and sugar, stirring continuously.  

Whisk egg-sugar mixture into rice mixture and simmer until it thickens slightly.  Do not boil at this stage or you risk curdling. I keep the heat down to the lowest setting at this point.

Once pudding has thickened, remove from heat.  

Remove cinnamon sticks and stir in vanilla and dried cranberries.  

Transfer to a serving dish. Allow to cool slightly, then cover with wax or parchment paper to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Just before serving, remove parchment or wax paper and cover top of pudding with a thin sprinkling of turbinado sugar. Melt the sugar with a blow torch or place the dish under the broiler until the sugar is melted and serve.

Next weekend we will be away from the kitchen and at the Milwaukee Irish Festival. We hope to see you there.

Overnight Oats

We’ve got an infant at home.  Baby Eve. We are all in love with her and she returns the sentiment by being a sweet baby, a good eater and even a decent sleeper for her age.  But like any 7 week old, she sleeps all the time and seemingly never. So I am up, sometimes, at 1:30 am, 2:30 am, 4:30 am and again at 5:45 am when the big kids decide to come downstairs with breakfast requests inexplicably early.  Of course. Last night was one of those nights. I found myself awake at all of the above mentioned hours as well as at 3:30 am (while Eve was sleeping! Why????) when I found myself craving cold oatmeal more than sleep (crazy) and wishing I had overnight oats in the fridge. More puns. Overnight Oats. An actual name that feels more like a taunt.  Not much I can do about its name, or the lack of sleep, but I can refuse to let my 3:30 am craving go unsatisfied again. So today I prepared three days/nights worth of overnight oats.  

There's our girl. Sleeping like a baby.

I won’t pretend there is a recipe for this. I happened to organize my kitchen cupboards yesterday, thank you maternity leave, and IKEA, so I actually knew what was in there and what needed to be used. I got out three mason jars and set to work.

For these, I threw together the following in unknown quantities:

Steel cut oats - for chewiness

Quick cooking oats  - for softness

Unsweetened grated coconut - for texture and sweetness

Chia seeds - for “superfood-ness”

Hazelnuts - for fat and protein

Pepitas - see above

Spices - Cinnamon, Cardamom, Allspice, Nutmeg

Kosher salt, a pinch

Maple syrup, to taste

Milk, enough to cover and absorb all the oaty goodness

Two kinds of oats and coconut. 

Chia seeds. I'm feeling super already.

Layers of good stuff. 

And last, the milk. All done. 

Once everything was in the jars, I stirred them up and put them back in the fridge, for a day or three.

My assistant was in charge of making sure the ingredients were thoroughly mixed together. 

In the morning(s) I stirred in some plain yogurt and fresh fruit and enjoyed my oats cold, summer style.  I wonder what my father-in-law would think?

“Coldcannon” in the Heat of Summer

Summer in Chicago. The heat and humidity doesn’t exactly leave us longing for heaping portions of butter-laced potatoes, sausages, lamb stew or other such Irish specialties (as much loved as they are around here at other times of the year).  That being said, certain classic Irish flavor and ingredient combinations are always welcome on our table.

This salad is one of them.  I call it Cold-Cannon - get it? It’s a salad using the same ingredients as Colcannon but it’s cold. Thus, COLD Cannon.

Kidding.  Well, all that is true but really I’m just making fun of Paul again. Puns aside, the combination of greens, green onion and potatoes works as well here as in Colcannon, which is also delicious. Lentils add some protein and heft but can also be left out. I like that this dish can be eaten cold, at room temperature or warm (there goes it’s punny moniker) and gets better as it sits, making it an excellent candidate for a picnic, potluck or make-ahead side. It’s also vegan and gluten free.  Effortlessly so. Summer needs more dishes like this.

Roasted New Potato Salad with Kale, Lentils and Green Onions

Serves 4

1 1/2 pounds small new potatoes, cut into bite size pieces (if necessary)

Vegetable oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2-3 cups kale, chopped

½ cup cooked French lentils

Juice from one half lemon

2 teaspoons red wine or sherry vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 tablespoon capers, drained and coarsely chopped

2-3 green onions, roots and wilted outer leaves removed, finely chopped

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Lentils and Vinaigrette.

 Make vinaigrette. In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, chopped green onion and capers. Slowly whisk in olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat the oven to 375°F. Place potatoes on sheet pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with vegetable oil.  Toss potatoes in oil until they are lightly coated. Roast for 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven and toss with vinaigrette, lentils and chopped kale while still warm. Top salad with parsley and eat warm, cold or at room temperature.

I put the chopped kale in the bowl with the dressing and added the potatoes straight from the oven so that the heat would wilt the greens just a little.  Then I mixed the kale and potatoes until they were evenly coated with dressing before addng the lentils and parsley . 

I put my camera away and ate this immediately.  

Happy Heatwave!