Posts tagged italian

Post study abroad in Florence, Italy, I came back to the states with an unabashed love affair with cooking, Chianti, Italian food, and especially risotto. If you read my last post, Three Cheese & Veggie Baked Penne, I have been on a cheese and carb kick. So naturally, I was craving my infamous risotto. I learned how to cook the Italian delicacy while enrolled in “Paring wine and Food” during my semester in Florence. Ever since then, risotto has been one of my favorite dishes to cook for family and friends. Considering the numerous times I have prepared the dish, when I found the recipe for these risotto cakes on Epicurious.com, I knew I had to take my risotto to the next level: Fried.

Ingredients: 

• 6 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/2 large onion, chopped 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups arborio rice 
• 1 glass dry white wine, plus more to sip on
• 2 quarts chicken stock 
• 1/4 cup parmigiana, grated 
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Toss in onions and cook until translucent. 

Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. 

Add rice and stir to coat evenly with onion and garlic. 

Pour in about one glass of wine and stir until wine is fully absorbed into rice. Don’t forget to pour yourself a glass too. This helps to ease the pain of stirring for 20 minutes! 

Add one ladle of chicken stock. Stir evenly until fully absorbed by rice. Repeat the process for about 20 minutes or until rice is al dente. I always pour and stir in one extra ladle of chicken stock when my rice is done for good luck. 

Your rice should look puffy and creamy like show below.

Transfer risotto to a 13 x 9 baking pan. Stir in 1/4 cup parmigiano and season with salt and pepper. Let cool completely. I transfered my risotto to the fridge for a faster cooling process.

FYI: Here you have a perfect basic risotto! If you are tired of standing at the stove after that laborious 20 minutes of stirring, you can call it quits and serve dinner now with no regrets. 

Combine and mix 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs, fontina cheese, parsley, chives and egg yolk. Then mix evenly throughout the cooled risotto.

Heat oven to 250 degrees. 

Shape risotto into 1 1/2 inch balls. 

Whisk two large eggs in a small shallow dish. In a separate shallow dish add the remaining cup of panko bread crumbs. Roll each risotto cake in the egg wash then thoroughly coat with the panko. 

Heat a medium saute pan with enough oil to half way cover the risotto cakes to medium high. 

Then fry the risotto cakes for about 1 minute per side or until golden brown.

Transfer finished risotto cakes to a baking pan in the oven to keep warm before serving.

Plate and devour. 

Love and tomorrow I’ll start my diet, 

Toots and Kakes