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Rice Crown with Apricots
Cook rice in milk and put in a buttered ring mold. When cool, turn into a fruit-dish. Cook dried apricots and place halves around the top of the crown. Strain the remainder of the fruit through a fine sieve and pour into the hollow of the crown. If this dish is desired hot, put the mold in the oven for a few minutes before trimming it with the apricots.
The original assumes you already know how to make a milk-cooked rice pudding; it supplies neither quantities nor times. The figures below fill the gaps for a standard 1-quart (4-cup) ring mold.
- Rice and milkUse short-grain or pudding rice, not long-grain, since the starch is what makes the crown hold its shape. About 3/4 cup rice to 3 cups whole milk, simmered gently and stirred, takes 30-40 minutes and gives roughly the volume a 1-quart mold wants.
- SweeteningNo sugar is specified for the rice. Two to three tablespoons of sugar stirred into the rice near the end, with a split vanilla bean or a strip of lemon peel, brings it into line with modern palates.
- Binding the moldA well-thickened rice will usually turn out on its own, but for insurance beat two egg yolks into the hot rice off the heat, or fold in a tablespoon of gelatin softened in cold water. Butter the mold well and chill at least three hours.
- UnmoldingDip the mold to the rim in hot water for five to ten seconds, run a thin knife around the inner and outer edges, then invert onto the serving dish in one motion. "Fruit-dish" here is most likely a shallow serving bowl, often footed; any flat platter with a slight rim works.
- The apricotsDried apricots need soaking an hour in warm water, then simmering 20-25 minutes in the soaking liquid with sugar to taste until tender but still holding their shape. Reserve the best halves for the rim before pushing the rest through the sieve.
- The pureed centerStrain the cooking syrup along with the fruit, and reduce it if the puree is loose; a thin puree will run out over the rice and spoil the look. It should mound slightly in the well of the ring.
- Serving it hotThe recipe gives no oven heat and no time beyond "a few minutes." A moderate oven, about 350F, for roughly ten minutes with the mold covered will warm it through. Warm the apricot puree separately rather than heating it in place.
- YieldA 1-quart ring serves six to eight as a dessert.