Risalamande

Steps

1. Bring the 1 1/4 cups water to a boil in a heavy 4-quart saucepan. If you are using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds into the pot and drop in the pod. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
2. Pour in the milk, add the salt and bring it back to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring so the rice does not stick.
3. Turn the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes and scraping the bottom. It is ready when the rice is very soft and the pudding looks like thick, loose oatmeal.
4. Stir in the vanilla extract, if using, and take out the vanilla pod. Spread the pudding in a wide bowl and let it cool for 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until completely cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.
5. While the rice chills, make the cherry sauce. Put the cherries, the 3/4 cup water and the 1/3 cup sugar in a medium saucepan and simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the cherries are soft and juicy.
6. Stir the cornstarch into the 2 tablespoons cold water until smooth, then stir it into the pan. Simmer, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, until the sauce turns glossy and coats a spoon. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and the almond extract, if using. Let it cool, then cover and refrigerate it until you are ready to serve.
7. Set 1 whole almond aside and coarsely chop the rest.
8. Stir the 3 tablespoons sugar and the chopped almonds into the cold rice, breaking it up with a spatula.
9. Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. Stir about a third of it into the rice to loosen it, then gently fold in the rest. Fold in the whole almond. Spoon the pudding into a serving bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
10. Warm the cherry sauce over low heat. Serve the pudding cold with the warm sauce spooned over each bowl, and see who finds the almond.

Good to know

• The almond game: in many Danish homes, whoever finds the whole almond keeps it hidden in a cheek until every bowl is empty, then claims a small gift, often a marzipan pig.
• Make ahead: cook the rice a day or two before and keep it covered in the refrigerator. Fold in the cream on the day you serve it. If the pudding stiffens as it sits, fold in a little more cream. The cherry sauce keeps in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
• For a tangier, more Danish sauce, use a 24-ounce jar of pitted morello cherries. Drain them, heat 1 1/2 cups of the juice with sugar to taste, thicken it with the cornstarch the same way, then stir in the cherries to warm them through.