Rice pudding with balsamic poached pears
Serves: 4
Prep time: 25 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Martin Poole
Rice pudding with balsamic poached pears
Lightly spiced sweet pears are the perfect seasonal topping for a traditional creamy rice pudding. This is elevated comfort food at its very best
Serves: 4
Prep time: 25 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (serving)
Calories
562Kcal
Fat
23gr
Saturates
12gr
Carbs
86gr
Sugars
64gr
Fibre
2gr
Protein
7gr
Salt
0.2gr
Nadine Brown
When Nadine isn't busy developing delicious recipes and using her experience as a health food editor to create healthy treats, she's munching and reviewing her way around her beloved home town of Tottenham. Find out what she's cooking and eating on Instagram @n0sh.17
See more of Nadine Brown’s recipes
Nadine Brown
When Nadine isn't busy developing delicious recipes and using her experience as a health food editor to create healthy treats, she's munching and reviewing her way around her beloved home town of Tottenham. Find out what she's cooking and eating on Instagram @n0sh.17
See more of Nadine Brown’s recipes
Ingredients
- 500ml milk
- 85g pudding rice
- 15g caster sugar
- 1 vanilla pod
- 100ml double cream
For the poached pears
- 20g walnuts
- 175g light brown sugar
- 100ml balsamic vinegar
- 10ml lemon juice
- 5g unsalted butter
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1⁄2 star anise
- 4 small firm pears, peeled, halved and cored
Step by step
- Start with the poached pears. Heat a large frying pan over a medium- high heat and toast the walnuts for 3-4 minutes, stirring often, until they start to brown and smell toasty. Immediately transfer to a plate and leave to cool, then roughly chop and set aside.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients, except for the pears, to a wide sauté pan. Add 50ml water and place over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the pears, cored side down, and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes, then flip the pears and simmer for a further 5 minutes, or until tender. Uncover, remove the pears to a plate using a slotted spoon, then simmer the liquid for 1-2 minutes until syrupy. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, for the rice pudding, combine the milk, rice and sugar in a medium pan. Split the vanilla pod lengthways with a sharp knife, scrape out the seeds and add both the pod and the seeds to the pan. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook gently, stirring frequently, for 25 minutes or until the rice has absorbed most of the milk. Discard the vanilla pod and stir in the cream.
- Ladle the rice pudding into bowls, top with the poached pears and serve with a drizzle of the syrup and a scattering of toasted pecans.
