I grew up never knowing what “rice pudding” was. In our family it was called “milk rice” and we served it for dinner. Now I know and still sometimes it’s dinner. Here it is the perfect end to our wild feast.
In this version we use wild rice in place of white rice and gently simmer the sweet creamy rice over a low flame and serve with a simple sauce of Nagooneberry. It’s warming, satisfying and so simple to make.
Substitute blackberries, marionberries, strawberries or raspberries for the Nagooneberries.
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups wild rice
salt
½ cup brown sugar
3 cups milk
1 cup cream
1 vanilla bean, split
1 cinnamon stick
1 ½ cups Nagooneberries
¼ cup sugar
Set a small dutch oven or stock pot on a grill grate set over coals or low flame. Add butter to the pot and melt. Stir in the rice and sauté until completely coated in the butter and it smells lightly toasted. Add a hefty pinch of salt.
Carefully stir in the sugar, milk, cream, vanilla bean and cinnamon stick. Bring to a simmer then cover. Gently simmer until the rice is tender and the pudding has thickened, about 1 hour.
In a small skillet add the Nagooneberries, sugar and cinnamon stick. Bring to a simmer over low flame and cook until the sugar dissolves and the sauce thickens just slightly, about 10 minutes.
Serve over the rice pudding.
