A Questionable Arancini for Lunch

~ Menu ~

Leftover Risotto Arancini-ish Thing

Fresh Herb Salad

Balsamic & Chilli Glaze

Cuvée Prestige

Homemade Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

You will remember that I had a delicious risotto the other day – see previous post.   Well I couldn’t eat it all at the time and today I made myself a whopping great arancini like thing with the leftovers. I say “arancini-like” because, as you probably know if you are at all foodie, arancini means “little orange” in Italian but if mine was a little orange it was a seriously flat one. 

Also I deviated in the cheese department; arancini are often stuffed with mozzarella and this caused me to ponder for a while. I had Cheddar, Feta, Brie, Gorgonzola, Parmesan and Boursin to hand to hand and eventually settled for the latter. Thirdly, I would have liked to have coated my arancini in panko crumbs but didn’t have any lying about and I couldn’t be arsed to mess about with breadcrumbs so I just shallow fried my rice patty in olive oil – worked for me!

Mozzarella and panko would probably have been perfect but we must remember that this is a blog about leftovers and stuff in the store cupboard so popping out to the shops would have been out of the question.

How to make arancini …

Really cold, ie. chilled risotto is sticky and easily holds together to make a 'little orange' or other shape.

leftover risotto of your choice – chilled to really cold

cheese of your choice – mozzarella for instance

a little flour seasoned with salt and pepper

a beaten egg

soft breadcrumbs or panko

~ Form cold risotto into balls (about 2 inches across would be reasonable – I was unreasonable).
~ Press a small dice of your chosen cheese into the centre of each ball and then reform the risotto around the cheese to encase completely and seal the cheese in.
~ Coat your balls (madam!) in seasoned flour, then the beaten egg and finally the crumbs or panko. Chill until needed.
~ Deep or shallow fry till crisp and deep golden.
~ Drain and set aside for a minute or two (giving the cheese a little extra melting time) then serve.

Boursin worked well flavour-wise but didn’t make for as gooey a melting heart as I’d have liked.  Nevertheless with some fresh herb salad (from Tesco), little plum tomatoes, red onion and balsamic glaze this was an excellent lunch - rather filling too.

In keeping, however, with the festive time of year I managed to struggle on and have a morsel or two of dessert.

As I have mentioned before I am working on a book of ice creams in which I divulge a wicked easy recipe which can be varied ad infinitum to universal delight. Actually it’s all but finished but I’m beginning to lose my enthusiasm about it. Unbelievable as it may seem there is, in fact, a limit to how much ice cream one person can eat and I need to get it published, move on and lose weight. 

So now I’m full. Again.

News from the future!

My ice cream book, Luscious Ice Cream without a Machine was published in June 2015.  Phew!