I had some cooked barley in my fridge, remnants of a barley-broth. I decided to employ the rice pudding method to save the left-overs. (Rice Pudding Method: a lengthy secondary cooking in sugar and milk.) The barley sucks up a lot of the milk and releases some starch into the pot.
Once a porridge has formed, cooked wild rice and dried cherries are added, and the whole lot is thickened with butter, egg yolk, and a touch of cream.
Since the wild rice and cherries are added at the end, they stay firm for textural contrast.
Have you ever noticed that the water you just cooked wild rice in is aromatic and flavourful and has a fantastic colour and is relatively clear?
It is.
So much so that I've started saving my wild rice broth, usually to be subtly incorporated into the same dish as the rice. I might, for instance, reheat the rice in a bit of its own broth.
But, if you reduce the strained broth and infuse it with a bit of garlic and celery...
...I think it's good enough to be consumed as a first course.
That's weird. I'm sorry.
Let's get back to the pudding.
Wild Rice and Barley Pudding
- 235 g cooked pearled barley
- 300 g whole milk
- 30 g dark brown sugar
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 1/2 stick of cinnamon
- 50 g cooked wild rice
- 20 g dried sour cherries
- 30 mL brandy
- 1 egg yolk with absolutely all remnants of white removed
- 20 g butter
- 30 g heavy cream
- Soak the dried cherries in the brandy.
- Put barley in a heavy-bottomed pot and cover with milk, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir to combine. Bring to the boil then simmer until most of the milk has boiled off or been absorbed, about 40 minutes.
- Strain the cherries from the brandy. Reserve the brandy. Add the cherries and wild rice to the barley. Remove the cinnamon stick.
- Return to a simmer.
- Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the butter, then the egg yolk. Adjust the consistency of the pudding with the heavy cream. Serve immediately, accompanied by a taste of the cherry-brandy.
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