Thursday, August 16, 2007

Gateau au Riz

I haven't been posting very regularly lately and I realize that I haven't posted any recipes for a while. Today was a National Holiday here, The Assumption, the Quinze Aout! It was pretty hot, but then a very strong wind started blowing, clouds rolled in and there were some nice storms. I stepped out to see how the sky looked and between lightning and thunder crashes, I could hear the rythmic thuds of fire works from a number of villages in the region. People have been waiting around all day for the fireworks, can't let a little torrential downpour disappoint them!
So I made dessert today. A Gateau au Riz, this is a classic rice dessert, pretty simple and hard to mess up, you can even cheat and use premade caramel, but the one I made used real caramel and that's part of the recipe below.
You need a nice pan you can put in the oven, a ribbed angel food or charlotte mold will work nicely .

In a saucepan on the stove over low heat, make the caramel with 75 grams of sugar and three soupspoons of water. Cook them until you have a golden brown caramel.

Next, lightly wipe the mold with some oil, then pour in the caramel and try to coat the inside evenly as it gets thick and sticky.

Take a cup (200 grams) of rice, preferably arborio and rinse in cold water. Then put in a saucepan, cover with cold water and cook a few minutes, then rinse in cold water.

Heat a liter of milk with a vanilla bean or a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. As the milk reaches the boiling point, add the rice. Stir with a wooden spoon and as the mixture reaches boiling again, reduce the heat and cover. Cook over a low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a bowl, whip together: 2 entire eggs, 1/4 cup of milk and 150 grams of sugar.
Mix this with the rice and pour it all into the carmalized mold. Cover the mold with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven. Take it out and let it cool a bit. While it is still warm, take off the foil, cover the top with a serving plate and turn it over. It should just slip out of the mold with the caramel coating glistening enticingly!

You can add raisins and a variation, I have made this with rice that has been cooked in milk instead of water.

Bon Apetit, bien sur!

4 comments:

mud_rake said...

Oh, such visual delight! I will copy the recipe and, when the summmer heat subsides, attempt an amateur version.

The Assumption, eh? There is much to 'assume' about that bit of religious hocus pocus.

Village Green said...

Hmm. I'm wondering how to turn this vegan. Probably the EnerG egg replacer would work, I like the idea of making a desert cake out of rice, but am not sure about caramel and my teeth.

historymike said...

Looks delicious, microdot!

I'm not sure I would make a good vegan, though. I did go for about six months without red meat in a more radical phase in the 1980s, but I returned wholeheartedly to stuffing my face with steak.

microdot said...

Village Green, I admit I'm not a good source for vegan cuisine.Occasionally I do something that would fill the bill.
I don't know much about egg substitutes and how they would act in baking. Do they whip?

As far as the caramel goes, you are not making a chewy stick to your teeth type thing here. It is a liquid carmalized sugar and it gives the gateau it's signature burnt sugar taste and color. It seeps into the outer layer and if you do it just right, it serves asa bit of a sauce.