Un altro dessert al vino

I said I would post about a few more wine-containing desserts that I made, and so here is the next one. I completely made this up, and I was really pleased about how good it came out. I modified a recipe for a regular rice pudding by almost eliminating all the milk and adding wine at its place, spicing with cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, and I used almonds instead of raisins to flavor. The final touch was placing the rice pudding on top of a pineapple slice and sprinkling with dark cocoa. The bitterness of the cocoa and mostly, the acidity and freshness of the pineapple complemented in a delicious way the sweetness and spiciness of the rice pudding.
Budino di riso al vino con mandorle e ananas / Wine rice pudding with almonds and pineapple

To make this, boil 1/2 cup rice in 1 cup of water, till all the water is adsorbed. Add 1/2 cup of milk and 1 and 1/2 cup red wine, 1 stick of cinnamon broken in half, ~6-7 cloves and 1 tsp cardamom, and keep cooking till almost all the liquid is adsorbed. Then, add 2/3 cup sugar (I used brown), 2 egg yolks and 1 tbsp butter. Stir till all the butter has melted. Add 1/2 cup almonds, broken into pieces, and cook for 2 more minutes. Once the rice has cooled down, remove the cinnamon stick and the cloves. To serve, place a pineapple slice on each of four plates (NB use fresh pineapple!), then divide the pudding in four and scoop one portion at a time in a small bowl. Flip the bowl and arrange the rice pudding on top of a pineapple slice. Top with slivers of almonds and bitter cocoa powder.

This dessert is really good. The wine, rice, almond and pineapple combination is unusual, and the taste is unexpectedly delicious. If you want to end your dinner with something light and surprising, this is a good possibility.