A Winter Recipe

It made a lot more sense doing something in the oven for three hours on a cold New England Sunday afternoon.  But when the winds get up to 30 or 40 MPH and it's cloudy here on the High Plains, the feeling in the soul is akin to those Eastern winter blahs.  So.....................

Rice Pudding

4 Cups Milk

3 Tablespoons long-grain rice (Texmati, Carolina, Basmati, or 

    Jasmine all work)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (depending on your taste-- I use 

a full teaspoon)

Preheat the oven to 300F and butter an 11X7 oven-proof glass baking pan.

Stir together all of the ingredients except the vanilla.  Put in the oven.  Bake for 2 hours, stirring  every half hour to keep the rice distributed.  Add the vanilla to the last stirring.  Total baking time is 3-3 1/2 hours.  

This makes the best rice pudding I've ever had and I've eaten in some diners run by Greeks that made awfully good rice pudding!!!  You can add raisins and vary the amount of rice to get a firmer texture,  I've made this with both whole and skim milk and it's always been good.   This recipe is basically the one appearing in  Atlantic Feb 2007.  Check the link for the original recipe with variations.  With the end of football season, what else is there to do on a Sunday afternoon??