Dinner Divas: Rice Pudding and a sick day

I picked two recipes for Dinner Divas this time, but only got to make one - I am a bad diva! But the one I did make was definately worth it.

Arborio Rice Pudding (the hubs' request) - Dave Lieberman

Ingredients
1 cup water
Pinch salt
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup Arborio rice
2 cups whole milk
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Few dashes ground cinnamon
Whipped cream, for serving (as usual, I didn't have the garnish!)

Directions
Bring water, salt, and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice, return to a boil, and then reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Shake the pan occasionally and cook until rice has absorbed the water but it still al dente, about 15 minutes.
Bring milk, sugar, vanilla, and a few dashes of cinnamon to a simmer in a separate saucepan. Add the cooked rice and cook at a simmer over medium-low heat until rice absorbs most of the milk and mixture starts to get thick and silky, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Transfer pudding to a large bowl and cool to room temperature. Place in refrigerator until cool and set. Serve with whipped cream and a dash more cinnamon.



Verdict:

This was a great recipe, next time I think I may take it off of the heat when it's still a little liduidy to make it creamier in the end. It was also good because today is a sick day and leftover rice pudding really comes in handy when you are fighting a repeat performance of that green guy from the mucinex commercials.

Oh, ps, here's what my backyard looks like today, it's not only a sick day but also a snow day: