Discombobulated about Cadbury's, Beetroot Salad and Rik Mayall

Firstly as I had some motivating leftovers I just ate an interesting Sudden Lunch!

~  Menu  ~

Riso al Salto

Tender Leaves (and beetroot) with Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette
Glass of Red
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate with Ritz

Black Coffee

You may remember the Roasted Shallot & Blue Cheese Risotto I made the other day – it was delicious but too much for me (I wish, wish, wish I had a larger appetite!) so today I fried myself a flat risotto cake, called Riso al Salto in Italy.

I grated over some Gran Padano and topped it with some Tesco Sweet Beetroot Salad which was a bit surprising. This is our favourite prepared salad and we buy it quite frequently. Only the other day my real man commented that there wasn’t much beetroot – I don’t know if anyone was listening but this pack took beetrootiness beyond our expectations.

I am going to take some out and make pretty pink coleslaw!  Anyhoo I dressed it with the remainder of my Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette and I wondered if it might be too much of a roasted shallot good thing but no way!  It worked very well.

Other ideas for leftover risotto include ...

~   Arancini ~ shape leftover risotto into a ball, make a hollow in the middle and insert a piece of appropriate cheese (blue in this case).  Reform the risotto around the cheese and roll in seasoned flour, then beaten egg and finally coat with breadcrumbs (or panko for a bit of yummy fusion). Fry till hot, crisp and golden with a melty middle.

~   Use to stuff vegetables eg. tomatoes or peppers before baking.

~   Leftover risotto can, with care, be reheated to be almost as good as the first time. Heat a little stock and then stir in the leftover risotto, continue stirring till hot through and then add a knob of butter and some Parmesan cheese and stir till melted.

Lunch pudding was strange.  I bought on a whim the other day a triple pack of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Ritz and I just cannot see the point!  

Each large flat square of gorgeous Cadbury’s milk chocky is topped with a tiny Ritz cracker!  Sometimes the cracker falls off but this was fine with me because after a thorough test of the product I picked off the remaining Ritz, they just interfered with the chocolate.  I really like salt and sweet combinations, love Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt and didn't dislike the Marmite Very Peculiar chocolate I tried a while ago but this just didn't work for me! Cadbury make such wonderful chocolate and I hate to feel like this about one of their products.

In Other News ...

~   I have received a package of goodies from Olives et Al which I shall be experimenting with over the next few days – such interesting things to play with!

~   I am so very sad, are you?, at the death of Rik Mayall who contributed a lot to my laughy youth and I like Ade Edmonson’s comment ...

“And now he's died for real. Without me. Selfish bastard.”

R.I.P. Rik Mayall