Riz au Lait from Chez L'Ami Jean

4 ¼ cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup bomba or aborio rice
1 vanilla bean, scrape the seeds out of pod
1 ½ teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
4 ¼ cup heavy cream, not ultra pasterizided

In a large size pot bring milk and vanilla pod to a boil, add rice and stir well. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot with a lid.  Cook the milk-rice mixture for 30 to 40 minutes till the rice is soft and to your liking. Add sugar, vanilla seeds and vanilla extract,

Stir well and cook 10 more minutes till sugar dissolves. Let cool, put a piece of plastic or parchment paper on the surface and refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve whip all the heavy cream till it forms soft  peaks than fold the cream gently into the rice pudding base and serve.

The better the quality of cream the better the Riz au Lait.