Blueberry Marscapone Risotto

Okay, so I know I just did a blueberry marscapone recipe but they do go really well together, and I had a glut of both, after our blueberry picking expedition and making a batch of marscapone with my Mad Millie cheese kit.

Marcapone is even easier to make than mozzarella (though you have to plan ahead a bit more as it involves an overnight wait) and given its deliciousness and usefulness in desserty things I can see I will be making this over and over again.

Marscapone is made with cream and citric acid - the cream is heated in a double boiler to 85 degrees C, then the dissolved citric acid is added, it's left on the heat for five minutes, and then left at room temperature overnight. 

When it's done cooking it'll be slightly curdled, and when you come back to it the next day it will be quite thick. 

You drain it through cheesecloth to get the good stuff (and it will thicken up more once chilled, too). The first time I did this I was quite zealous with the draining, but realised after transferring the marscapone into a container that the yield was too low - so I redrained it all, this time only draining off the liquid that naturally went through the cheesecloth (which was folded over to make four layers - I'm not sure what is intended but it seemed to work) and more than doubled the amount of marscapone I had - and it was very thick when I went to use it so that was a good move. Moral of the story - don't squeeze the liquid out!

I think in total my 1 litre of cream made about 700g of marscapone - quite a lot! Given its simplicity this really does make sense to make - 250g at the supermarket is normally around $8. 

This dessert actually just calls for a scoop of marscapone on top of each serving, so you could easily omit it, but it does give the edge of luxury to what is basically just rice pudding. 

It's a very easy dessert, took me about half an hour to make but I wasn't at the pot the whole time - I found checking on it every few minutes was enough (yeah, I know you're supposed to stir risotto heaps for ultimate creaminess but I'm lazy/was trying to be social and it turned out fine so I'm not going to chain you to the stove).

I love that half the blueberries are added at the beginning so the flavour and colour seeps through the whole dish, and half are added right at the end so they're still fresh and pop in your mouth and just warmed through - best of both worlds! 

Mr Cake loves rice pudding so I can see this recipe will likely become a favourite for us - do you have any variations on classic rice pud that you prefer?

 

Blueberry Marscapone Risotto (adapted from Food.com)
3/4 cup arborio rice
1 Tbsp butter
125g blueberries
3 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup mascarpone

Warm milk in a small saucepan or in the microwave.

Put butter into a large frypan or saucepan on medium heat, melt, and allow to bubble for a minute or so. Add the rice and stir until coated with the butter. Cook for a couple of minutes, until the rice becomes partly transparent.

Add half of the blueberries to the pan. Add milk gradually, adding more when all the liquid has been absorbed. When half the milk has been added, add the sugar, vanilla and salt. Continue adding milk until all absorbed. Stir in the remaining blueberries, spoon into serving dishes, and top each serving with a spoonful of mascarpone. Serves 4.