Creamy Carrot and Sweet Potato Rice Pudding with Blood Oranges

Some of you may remember last month I made a Beetroot Rose Rice Pudding, my husband loudly asserted You can make that again!  Well I have been looking for a reason to make  a variation of it again and it came with the Food 'N' Flix  hosted by Wendy at A Day In The Life on a Farm. The movie chosen this month is The Martian. 

I had not watched it, so we picked it up when we were in Bath, Somerset for the day.  I watched it that evening.  The Martian is about an astronaut  Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) a Botanist who is accidentally presumed to be dead and is left by his crew on Mars.  When he wakes up, he realises he is all alone and has to survive.  He embarks on a journey, a journey of survival where he attempts to grow potato crops on a land where nothing grows, biding time for his colleagues to come and rescue him.   Here is a trailer to the movie if you have not watched it.  

The most obvious food reference was of course to potatoes and yes, I cook with potatoes a lot, sweet potatoes that is.  I took my inspiration from the myriad and bursting shades of orange, rust, bronze, marigold, clay, sandstone found  in the landscape of the planet, from the rockery to the grainy dry sand.  

I decided to make a Creamy Carrot and Sweet Potato Rice Pudding with Blood Oranges.  I have to thank Coffee and Casseroles for spotting the oranges in the movie about 29 minutes into the movie, there is a bowl of oranges on the table behind two actors in an Earth scene, as I blinked and missed them, but I  felt I just had to incorporate them into my dish too, Thank you once again.

Although I was a little disappointed in that the orange colouring did not come through strong, I did love the flavours in this Creamy Carrot and sweet Potato Rice Pudding with Blood Oranges, including the bitter sweetness from the blood oranges.  I think this recipe would even work well with Butternut Squash or another sweet pumpkin.  Also, although this is a vegetarian recipe, it can easily be made suitable for vegans too. Now did I like the movie? I have to confess, it was not my favourite movie, way too many cliches in it for me and I felt they could have developed the relationships with the other crew at the start of the movie with Mark Watney, as that camaraderie part for me did not seem genuine, still I thank Food'n'Flix as I do love joining in and trying to be a bit more creative with my food.  

Sadly I won't be able to join in April as I cannot get a subtitled version of A Touch of Spice, it seems like a beautiful Greek movie from the trailer, but I feel I won't do the challenge justice if I cannot understand what is being said. 

I am also sharing this with #CookBlogShare hosted by Easy Peasy Foodie; Utterly Scrummy and  Family-Friends-Food for One Potato, Two Potato challenge; and Inheritance Recipes co hosted by Solange at Pebble Soup and Coffee and Vanilla as Rice Pudding with the addition of vegetables is becoming a tradition in my little home - Did you see my Beetroot Rose Rice Pudding last month?!  

Creamy Carrot (and Sweet Potato) Rice Pudding with Blood Oranges
Serves 6
Ingredients
 45g butter or sunflower spread
120g demerara sugar
2 blood oranges, sliced thinly or with a mandolin

100g Basmati rice rice
 1 litre of milk or plant based milk or milk
 2 tablespoons demerara sugar

200g  carrots or sweet potatoes (or mixture of both), grated plus 1 whole carrot, peeled and chopped in half
180ml  double cream or diary free alternative cream

Method
In a pan, melt butter with the demerara sugar.  When these have dissolved, stir in the blood orange slices and allow to infuse.  Set aside and allow it to cool down.

Wash and soak the rice for about 15 minutes.
Drain the rice and then place in a heavy bottomed saucepan.  
Stir in the milk and sugar and bring to the boil.   
Then lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until you get a rich, creamy texture. 
Scoop out the carrot from the rice pudding mixture and transfer to a food blender with the double cream. 
Puree the carrot and cream together. 
Stir in cream puree to the pot.
Stir in the infused buttery sugar, keep the orange slices aside.  
Simmer for a 15 minutes of so for the flavours to infuse and thicken.
Garnish with soft blood orange slices.