Risolatte with rhubarb

I got fresh and still warm milk and more fresh rhubarb on the market the other day. It was time to make risolatte or rice (riso) with milk (latte) with a lot of beautiful rhubarb.

Risolatte recipe has been in my mind since I came across it a couple of weeks ago on an Italian website. Last time I had rice with milk was when my mom made it, when I was ten or younger. I have never thought that the combination of milk and rice would be appealing to me again. Leave it to the Italians and my infatuation with anything Italian. Rice with milk...I mean Risolatte is back!

Yes, it's sweet, soft and creamy, with a touch of vanilla and lemon. Comfy, comfy food. But I wasn't so excited about just eating rice and milk. Not in Spring, when the market is full of freshly grown goodies. Rhubarb is cheep as dirt. It shows up on the fields here before strawberries and it doesn't stay long.  I haven't found many interesting recipes to use it. So I came up with my own.

Sweet rice is not for everybody. Julian refused to eat it. Hania was open-minded, had it for the first time and liked it a lot. Me...I had three of those on the picture above. I skipped dessert.

Recipe adapted from Giallo Zafferano
time: about 1 hr

ingredients
for rice

• 300 g (1 1/2 cups) white rice, arborio works the best. I was out, so I used basmanti.
• 1 l (4.3 cups) whole milk
• 90 g (1/2 cup) sugar
• 1 g (1/8 teaspoons) salt
• zest (not grated) from 1 lemon 
• 1/2 vanilla bean

for rhubarb

• 6-7 stalks rhubarb, 1-inch (2.5cm) diced
• 1 large orange (grated zest and juice)
• 2-3 Tablespoons sugar
• 2-3 Tablespoons raspberry preserves

1 Tablespoon (15 g) butter, diced
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
cinnamon for decoration on top

instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F (fan forced function).
2. Prepare rhubarb. In a medium baking dish, mix rhubarb with juice and orange zest, sugar and raspberry preserves. Place it in the hot oven for about 20 min, till rhubarb is soft.
3. Prepare rice. In a medium pot, bring milk to boil on low heat. Add sugar, salt, zest, vanilla seeds and the leftover bean. Add rice. Cook slowly for about 25-30 minutes, stirring often, till rice is tender and the milk has been absorbed. Remove lemon zest and vanilla bean.
4. Add baked rhubarb with juices to the rice, mix it up and put it all back into the dish you baked rhubarb in. Top with pieces of butter and sprinkle with sugar. Put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes till top is browned. The last 10 minutes, I switched to the top grill only. Remove it from the oven, and enjoy it while hot, warm or cold, with some cinnamon on top.