This old fashioned baked rice pudding is rib sticking and warming. It’s best eaten in front of the fire with an episode of your favourite box set, when the table is cleared and the dishwasher is doing its job.

This is the time of year when a baked pudding is called for. It’s been a gorgeous autumn here. The days haven’t been too cold and it hasn’t been too windy or wet. But now the days are definitely cold and it’s forecast to rain all day tomorrow.

I’ve not posted on the blog for a few weeks because we spent half term totally re-fitting the kitchen. About four weeks ago Dan took out all the top cupboards from the kitchen. We stacked them up in the dining room and continued to use them while we ripped the tiles off the wall and got it re-plastered down to work surface level. The kitchen was still useable and although it took me longer to cook, with everything stored in the dining room, it was totally possible.

The next stage was more disruptive as anyone who’s ever re-fitted a kitchen will testify to. The microwave and oven joined everything else in the dining room then the kitchen was stripped bare, and it was all go to get the new kitchen in as fast as possible.

It took 7 days of hard work, little sleep, ready meals and takeaways, but I now have a lovely new kitchen. We’re not totally there yet. As the kitchen is so small we’re having a larder cupboard made for the dining room which will store some food and the big appliances such as my food processor and bread maker, but we’re definitely heading in the right direction and I’m back in the kitchen. Which takes me back to this delicious rice pudding. It’s so nice to have food smells coming from the kitchen again (No more plaster or wood dust smells, although let it be said that brick dust is the worst. It may not smell but I HATE it. The fact that it’s gritty is bad enough, but it’s also sticky which means that it clings to everything it touches. Thankfully, with lots of care, the carpets survived).

This is definitely a rib sticking, warming pud, best eaten in front of the fire with an episode of your favourite box set, when the table is cleared and the dishwasher is doing what it’s meant to.

If you’ve never tried lemon in rice pudding then I urge you to give it a go. It just adds a little something and the pudding will definitely not taste ‘lemony’ unless you are lucky enough to get a strip of lemon peel in your bowl. What you do with the zest is up to you. I chomp my way through it but then I like lemon.

The nutmeg is also a lovely, warming addition. Just don’t overdo it. A little nutmeg really adds something but too much is seriously overpowering.

Old Fashioned Baked Rice Pudding

Name: Old Fashioned Baked Rice Pudding
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 95 min
Yield: 4 people
Ingredients: 1 l (34 fl oz) milk; 100 g (½ cup) pudding rice; 25 g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar; 1 lemon zest ( pared with a peeler); Nutmeg (8-10 gratings, divided)

Course: Baking, Dessert

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Total Time: 1 hr 35 mins

Servings: 4 people

Author: Anna Bloomfield

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Ingredients

1 l (34 fl oz) milk
100 g (½ cup) pudding rice
25 g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar
1 lemon zest ( pared with a peeler)
Nutmeg (8-10 gratings, divided)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 140°C
Place the milk in a pan and heat until warm but not hot. Remove from the heat.
Add the rice, sugar, lemon zest and a few gratings of nutmeg. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Transfer the rice and milk mixture to an oven dish, place in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven, stir and grate over a little more nutmeg. Bake for a further hour.
Check the pudding. If you would like it to be thicker, or the rice softer and more creamy, return it to the oven for a further 15-30 minutes.
Leave to stand for a few minutes before serving.