RIZOGALO: CREAMY RICE PUDDING

Instructions

1. I grew up eating this comforting dessert. My mom made her rizogalo with lemon zest, but I thought I'd kick it up a notch (like Emeril says) and make it more decadent like a custard 🙂
2. So in came the egg yolks, the cream and my favorite winter flavorings: orange zest and cinnamon. You can definitely serve this dessert year round, but I find myself making this more in the colder months. It's rich and comforting warm or cold! Feel free to substitute the orange zest and to add your favorite flavors: almond extract, raisins, rose water; whatever suits your fancy!
3. Bring rice, salt and water to a boil in a pot and reduce heat. Let simmer until rice absorbs all of the water stirring occasionally. About 10 minutes.
4. Add milk and 1 cup sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 25 minutes, or until mixture thickens and rice is very tender.
5. Puree the mixture for a few seconds with an immersion blender until it's creamy but there should still be some whole pieces of rice for texture.
6. In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks with the remaining ¼ cup sugar ,orange zest and cornstarch. Add the heavy cream and mix it.
7. Pour about one cup of the hot pudding mixture into the egg mixture and whisk it while adding a little more hot pudding mixture. This will temper the eggs so that they don’t scramble (nobody likes scrambled eggs in their pudding...)
8. Add the egg mixture back to the pot and cook for about 5 more minutes over medium heat, stirring so that it doesn't burn.
9. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and stir. Pour into small serving bowls or in a large serving bowl and sprinkle cinnamon on top; lots of cinnamon!! You can also garnish it with some toasted almonds for crunch 🙂
10. Refrigerate until cold and serve.