Risgrøt

This is a Saturday morning favorite in my house. It's basically rice and milk. It's a traditional Norwegian breakfast dish. "Risgrøt" means "rice porridge". (I don't like the word "porridge" but it's the same word in "havregrøt" which means "oatmeal".)

You'll need 3/4 cup rice, a half-gallon of milk or a pint or two of cream, a dash of vanilla extract, and a couple of hours on a lazy Saturday morning.

Take 3/4 cup of rice. Boil it in water. Then turn the heat way down so it cooks slowly. As the water boils down, add whole milk or cream (or milk and cream) and cover. Keep adding liquid as it cooks down (milk or water), and stir every 10 or 15 minutes so it doesn't burn on the bottom. After one hour and before two (I think 1.5 hours is pretty good), let it cook down so the mixture is not too watery and nice and creamy looking.

I always add dash of vanilla to make the kitchen smell beautiful during the long cooking time.

The rice expands to about 7 or 8 times its volume. That 3/4 cup will feed a family of 5. Set the table with butter, salt, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and jelly. Put whatever you want in it. I like salt and butter, the kids like cinnamon and sugar, my wife puts in raisins.

Dead simple, delicious, and fun.