As a kid, I loved Disney movies. This is possibly the
least-surprising sentence ever written, unless you’ve been on the receiving end
of one of my anti-Disney rants over the last 2 decades. Possibly these two
things are related – the marketing machine of the 80s/90s and the rise of the ubiquitous
Disney princess has made Disney into the worst sort of pop culture juggernaut.
I won’t deny being a little nostalgic for those less merchandised days (though
possibly one could purchase a “Hot Lead and Cold Feet” lunchbox. I’m really not
sure).
Several of the live-action family movies from that era starred
Jodi Foster, including “Candleshoe.” I remember almost nothing about this movie
except (spoiler alert!) the denouement at the end in which Jodi’s ruse of pretending
to be a long-lost heiress is discovered because she eats rice pudding (the
actual heiress hated rice pudding). Whether my long-time dislike of rice
pudding is due to sympathy with Jodi or the actual taste and texture is still
up for debate; but David and Anna both love it, so it was a logical choice for
a gluten-free, make-ahead, low-effort dessert for David’s birthday dinner.
At its simplest, rice pudding is little more than rice,
milk, and sugar. There are approximately 20,000,000,000 variations on this,
based on my rigorous and highly scientific survey of the internet, with every
possible iteration of spices, additives, and non-dairy milks. So naturally, it
made complete sense that I would also include one of my most loathed ingredients
on this particular occasion, because David also loves coconut and it is, after
all, his birthday.
The cookbook it came from will always have a spot on my
shelf, if only for the nostalgic value. It’s the first cookbook that I really,
really loved, and I bought quite a few copies to include with wedding gifts for
my foodie friends. It was printed long ago enough that readers are reminded you
can purchase coconut milk at specialty grocery shops, and is formatted in what
is arguably the least-useful sequence one can possibly imagine, as it’s
essentially a travelogue. Nonetheless, it’s great reading and has some
excellent recipes.
I picked rice pudding for dessert because it’s easy and dinner
was going to be fairly labor-intensive, only to realize the night before that I
probably wasn’t going to be able to find candied orange peel at the fruit
market. There’s no way I’m up for trips to multiple stores at 9 a.m. on a Sunday,
and it seemed a significant enough ingredient that I didn’t want to just skip
it. In hindsight, I should have chosen a different recipe. Suffice to say,
Alton Brown’s instructions for making candied orange peel follow the rice
pudding recipe.
Adapted very slightly from Sheila Lukins All Around the World Cookbook.
Mexican Coconut Rice Pudding
3 cups water
Whole peel of 1 orange, pith removed
2 3-inch cinnamon sticks
Pinch of salt
1 ½ cups long-grain rice
¼ cup golden raisins
¼ cup candied orange peel, cut into ¼-inch dice
¼ cup shredded coconut
¼ cup dark rum
5 cups milk
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a large, heavy saucepan, combine the water, orange peel,
cinnamon sticks, and salt. Bring to a boil add the rice, and stir. Reduce the
heat to low, cover the pan, and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed, about
20 minutes.
While the rice is cooking, toss the raisins, candied orange
peel, and coconut with the rum. Set aside.
When the rice is cooked, add the milk, coconut milk, sugar,
and dried fruits with rum. Increase the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring
frequently, until the mixture has thickened. If it boils rapidly, reduce the
heat. The recipe claims this takes about 50 minutes but mine took considerably
longer as I was using an underpowered burner; trust that you’ll know when it
looks done, and remember that it will thicken a bit as it cools.
When the pudding is done, discard the orange peel and
cinnamon sticks. Stir in the vanilla.
If you’re feeling fancy, you can toast an additional ½ cup
of shredded coconut to decorate the top (but why on earth would you add more
coconut?!). The original recipe also calls for stirring in a ½ cup of
half-and-half, but I upped the amount of coconut milk a little bit and didn’t
think it was necessary.
Serve lightly chilled or at room temperature. Prepare to be
amazed at how not-disgusting it is, in spite of the coconut.
About candied orange peel
Honestly, this elevated the rice pudding to the level of “kind
of a lot of bother,” but (1) most of the work is hands-off; (2) it was STILL easier
than driving around to multiple stores; (3) it was really delicious in the
final product; and (4) it’s really, really good on its own. Also you can use
the leftover syrup in other beverages. I haven’t tried any sort of cocktails
yet but it certainly made my iced tea just a little bit extra.
The fastest, most well-explained recipe I found was Alton
Brown’s: https://altonbrown.com/candied-orange-peel-recipe/.
