Semolina Pudding

With Jane Ward

Jane Ward of Food & Fiction set out to see how many delicious recipes she could make using semolina. Using fresh vanilla beans and lemon juice, this traditional Italian dessert makes an elegant dessert when served still warm with a fruit compote. You will be seduced by the lemon and sweet vanilla aromas of this lighter alternative to crème brulee. Try any fruits in season, but berries provide a particularly sweet and tart partner for the mild custard.  She serves it here with a ruby-colored strawberry sauce.

One of the tricks that Jane demonstrates is how to “scald” the milk instead of boiling it. Scalding brings the temperature just up to the boiling point.

Semolina flour is a yellow flour made from high protein wheat. When boiled, it turns into a soft, mushy porridge. Semolina made from durum wheat is yellow in color. It is usually the basis for dried products such as couscous. The term semolina derives from the Italian word semola that derives from the ancient Latin simila, meaning flour.

Ingredients

Yield: 6 ½-cup servings2 cups whole milk
½ cup sugar
½ vanilla bean, split open
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons semolina
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
3 eggs
1 egg yolk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

1. Place milk, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest in a medium saucepan, stir, and bring to the scald just below boiling point over medium-high heat.  When you see small bubbles forming in the milk around the edge of the pan, and the surface of the liquid looks as if it will soon start to simmer, remove the pan from the heat.  Cover the mixture and let the milk steep for one hour.
2. While the milk is steeping, prepare 6 ½-cup ramekins by spraying them with non-stick spray.  Cut 6 parchment circles to fit the bottom of the ramekins.  Place these inside each dish and spray the paper lightly with non-stick spray.  Place ramekins in a shallow glass-baking dish, small enough to hold the dishes snugly.  Set aside.
3. Whisk the eggs and egg yolk together in a medium sized mixing bowl and set aside.
4. Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the infused milk into a large measuring cup or bowl.  Discard the solids left behind in the strainer.  Wipe out the saucepan and return it to the stove.  Pour milk back into the pan and bring the liquid back up to the scalding point over medium heat.  Gradually whisk the semolina into the hot milk, and whisk constantly until the mixtures thicken to the consistency of hot cereal.  Remove pan from heat.
5. Ladle about a half-cup of the hot semolina-milk mixture into the beaten eggs and whisk until smooth.  (This is called tempering the eggs, making them warmer before you add them directly to the hot mixture.)  Once the eggs have been tempered with a small amount of semolina mixture, whisk them into the saucepan containing the rest of the semolina.  When everything is incorporated and mixture is smooth, use either a ladle or a large measuring cup with pouring spout to fill ramekins, dividing pudding evenly between the six prepared dishes.
6. Heat water in a kettle and pour hot water halfway up the sides of the ramekins in the baking dish.  Cover entire dish with foil, leaving one small edge open for the release of steam.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the centers are set.  Remove ramekins from the hot water bath and let cool on a rack for 5 minutes before handling.

To serve, invert the warm puddings into the centers of 6 dessert plates and surround each with a pool of berry compote.

Strawberry Compote

Ingredients:

2 quarts strawberries, washed, hulled, and halved (or quartered if they are large)
2 tablespoons to ¼ cup sugar, depending on the sweetness of the berries
1-2 tablespoons orange juice, depending on the juiciness of the berries

Instructions:

1. Place prepared strawberries in a medium saucepan with sugar and orange juice.  Turn heat to medium and bring sauce to a simmer.  The sugar will dissolve and the strawberries soften a bit while the sauce thickens. 
2. Cook only until the berries are pleasantly soft – they should retain their bright color and some of their shape. 
3. Remove to a bowl and let cool a bit before covering and refrigerating.  May be made up to 2 days ahead.     

Recipe courtesy of Jane Ward, Food and Fiction, 2010.

Jane is the author of HUNGER (Forge, 2001) and THE MOSAIC ARTIST, and is currently at work on her third novel, THE WELCOME HOME.  A former baker and caterer, Jane hosts a new video blog for an internet recipe resource, and regularly contributes articles to the online regional food magazine, Local In Season. Jane also blogs weekly about food, and is writing a cookbook/memoir entitled TATTOOED WITH FOOD based on the blog entries.  From Food For Thought column: "Jane shows how ridiculously easy it is to make a loaf of ciabatta bread with a gutsy crackling crust that tastes like it was baked in a Tuscan panetteria. She teaches that the holes in ciabatta are specifically engineered to hold roasted peppers, pesto, gooey melted cheese, as it is the bread of bruschettas and picnic sandwiches. That purposely definitive crust holds everything inside, like a perfectly designed suitcase for foods, more than a sandwich."