Baked Milk Rice

Baked milk rice is a simple and comforting sweet dish, and I can provide you with a basic version that you can customize to your liking. Here’s how to prepare it:

Ingredients

• 1 liter of whole milk
• 200 grams of risotto rice (such as Arborio or Carnaroli)
• 100 grams of granulated sugar
• 1 vanilla pod or vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 lemon (untreated and well washed)
• 50 grams of butter
• 1 pinch of salt
• Cinnamon powder (optional)
• Powdered sugar (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. In a saucepan, bring the milk to a boil with the vanilla pod split lengthwise (or vanilla extract) and lemon zest. Add a pinch of salt.
3. Once the milk starts to boil, remove the lemon zest and vanilla pod (if necessary scrape out the seeds and add them to the milk), then pour in the rice.
4. Let the rice cook in the milk over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15-20 minutes or until the rice is al dente.
5. Remove from the heat, discard the vanilla pod, and add the granulated sugar and butter in pieces. Stir well to melt the butter and sugar.
6. Grease an oven-proof dish and pour the rice and milk mixture into it.
7. Place in the preheated oven and cook for about 45 minutes or until the surface becomes golden and slightly crispy.
8. Once baked, you can dust with powdered cinnamon and icing sugar to taste.

Curiosities

Baked milk rice is a recipe with rather ancient roots, especially in Northern European countries, but it also has variations in Italy. In some cases, to make the dish richer, raisins or other types of dried fruit are added to the mixture. It can be served as either dessert or breakfast, perhaps accompanied by some jam or fresh fruit.