Rice Pudding and Caramel Apples

Per Nana~
After spending an incredible four days in Seattle at the IFBC and meeting so many Doristas, I have been going over all the goodies and information that was given to us. I will be reporting on all of the suppliers and their products, plus our wonderful Saturday dine-around that was sponsored by Urban Spoon. The highlight of the whole conference (other than meeting the Doristas) was of course meeting Dorie Greenspan and her lovely husband Michael.

 

Moving forward to this week's recipe, AMFT offerred a bit of a different take on rice pudding. Dorie's instructions for boiling the arborio rice was new to me but worked beautifully, and cut down and the cooking time for the pudding. Normally I have cooked the rice for close to an hour on low heat to get the pudding thickened, but this was completed in just thirty minutes.

Hubby proclaimed this to be the best rice pudding ever. Unfortunately, when I prepared the caramel apples I ended up adding the whole squeezed lemon to the sugar mixture instead of measuring it out. It all looked good, browned nicely, and tasted awful. It was so bad that I actually had to throw it out. That aside, this will be the rice pudding recipe that I  use again and again. It was really that delicious.

Per Tricia~
The IFBC, Seattle, the Doristas (each and every one of you !!!), and of course Dorie and her amazing hubby Michael - all EXCEEDED my expectations.  Normally on French Friday's I find that I fare better when my expectations about a recipe are low - the old "inverse relationship" thing.  But I was so excited going into the event that I couldn't help myself. My already high hopes were exceeded with a wonderful experience that was "off the charts" on every level. Yes, it was THAT fabulous.  I am still smiling from ear to ear and like Nana, look forward to posting more details in the near future. I would also like to send a thanks to the Doristas who did not make the event and yet sent us wonderful comments about our attending- you all are THE BEST and we look forward to meeting ALL of our FFWD friends in the future.

Now...... that pudding. 

Oh my. Perfect time of year and perfect recipe. I don't usually make homemade pudding so initially thought the cooking time sounded like a long time- yet it did move quickly and smelled delicious.

And I did use a new product from the conference- my sample of the Lagrima Vanilla.  It was very good and I went on the heavier side of the recipe, which my husband said he appreciated - so I was all the more pleased about the flavor. (www.lagrima.com) 

There were very few steps and with Dorie reminding us when the pan might splatter (good call as usual Dorie !!) it was an easy week. Next time I will try to get a bit more color to my caramel sauce but it tasted amazing regardless.  I loved it and my hubby was delighted. DELIGHTED. I will absolutely make this again when the boys are home and I will be sending over some leftovers to my Dad.......:)

Happy French Friday !