Rice Pudding "Gonzo"

By bethpanzarella

Francoise Joiris of New York, New York writes: "In honor of our firefighters lost on September 11, could you please rerun the article and recipes you published a few years back about Company 18 of the FDNY? This is our local company, and it suffered a great loss of men at the World Trade Center."
We're happy to reprint this recipe, named for firefighter Steve "Gonzo" Gonzalez.

Ingredients

• 2 quarts whole milk
• 1 cup long-grain white rice (do not rinse)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation

Step 1

Bring milk, rice, sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt to a boil in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, until rice is very tender, about 1 hour.

Just before rice mixture finishes cooking, whisk eggs lightly in a bowl. Remove pan from heat and slowly add 1 cup of rice mixture to eggs, whisking constantly. Stir egg mixture into remaining rice mixture in pan, then stir in cream.

Pour pudding into a 13- by 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish (3-quart capacity) and sprinkle with cinnamon. Chill pudding, covered, at least 3 hours.

Cooks' note: •Pudding can be chilled, covered, up to 3 days.