Marscarpone Rice Pudding with Roasted Black Mission Figs and Port Wine Reduction

       Apparently, punctuality doesn't appear to be my strong suit.  I am a week late posting this blog, but lack of timeliness is a theme that ran through my first recipe attempt.  The French have a term, mise en place, which basically means,  get your shit together before you get started.  All your recipe components should be measured out ahead of time and if they can be placed in adorable white ceramic ramekins, well, all the better.  This I did for all the dry ingredients and the others I had at the ready in their containers.  Unfortunately, I failed to notice that the port wine that I produced from my cellar (marble topped cabinet in my living room...shhh...don't tell the teenagers) was, in fact, both open and upwards of 10 years old.  Consequently, three quarters of the way through the recipe I had to leave the constant vigilant attention of the simmering rice pudding to my 13 year old while I ran out to the store for more port.  For those of you who don't know, 13 year old boys are incapable of constant vigilant attention to anything except, perhaps, Modern Warfare 2.  But, we'll get to that later.
     On a beautiful late summer afternoon, I turned my attention to my first recipe in my adventure in cooking.  It looked easy enough.  I was able to dust off my Diet Center scale circa 1990 to weigh out my dry ingredients and put them into the aforementioned ramekins.  I had discovered a few days earlier that black mission figs are incredibly delicious, especially when paired with extra sharp white cheddar.  Luckily they were on sale at Whole Foods, so I was able to hold myself back from the 15 that were needed for the recipe.  The rice pudding itself was pretty simple...rice, milk, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar and heavy cream.  The killer ingredient though was the marscarpone cheese which was added to the pudding at the end of cooking.  Yum.  The process, if not interrupted for a trip to the grocery store, would have proceeded without incident.  Unfortunately, when I left I forgot to mention to the 13 year old boy that stirring the pudding from time to time would be ideal.  Hence, when I returned 23 minutes later, there was a layer of rice pudding fused to the bottom of the pan.  As long as I didn't disturb the layer, I would be OK.   I do have to thank him for his help, however, because without it the recipe would have been a complete disaster.
     The roasted figs were fairly straight forward as well.  Figs, butter and a bit of sugar in a 300 degree oven and...10 minutes later a delicious, tender, vibrant fruit is ready.  The port wine reduction gave me a bit of trouble since it wouldn't reduce as much as the recipe called for in the amount of time it allowed.  This meant that the rice pudding was cooling longer than it should have before it was served and that, ultimately, I gave up too early and the reduction wasn't as thick as one would hope.
     When each of the three flavors were melded together it was a thing of beauty.  The port wine reduction livened up the somewhat one dimensional rice pudding and the figs gave a new texture which was interesting and delicious in it's own right.  I shared this dessert with my friends Lisa and Wayne and hopefully they will share their thoughts here.  Many thanks to them both for being my first guinea pigs.
     Next up on the roster is Pear Tarts with Chocolate Goat Cheese and Honey.  Can't wait!!!!!