Leftover risotto

The internet told me you make it into suppli, so I did, more or less. I didn't have mozzarella so I used ordinary old Colby. And I can't tell you what they taste like because I froze them. I'll let you know when I remember to take them out - I think I might oven bake them rather than deep frying too.

So here we have some left over risotto:

And here we have a beaten egg:

I mixed about half the egg in with the risotto …

… and cut some cubes of colby cheese ready to form balls around:

I'd love to show you me doing this, but rolling risotto into balls, then the balls in egg and breadcrumbs, is a messy two-handed process and my camera wouldn't have appreciated being mixed up in it.

Here are some finished results though - you'll just have to take my word that there's cheese in them there balls:

I discovered that putting the balls in that small Arcoroc bowl with the breadcrumbs and swirling it around quite hard made the balls into a really good round shape:

Maybe this week for dinner one night I'll try some.

Hamburger

Another "food for hungry blokes" post.

Matthias and I went up town one Friday night when he was here, revisiting old drinking holes and forgetting to eat until the early hours of the morning when all that was open was a burger bar. It's a pretty flash sort of burger bar though, and my burger was so delicious I had to have another later on in the week at home. It had been years since the last time I ate one and I'd forgotten how nice a good burger could be.

I started off with 900g or so of prime beef mince that I mixed with an egg, some milk, a little flour, some finely chopped onion, a goodly dose of salt, and some chopped up thyme from the garden. I made this into six nice big meat patties, squashing it between layers of clingfilm. I froze what I didn't use for Matt's and my dinner burgers.

While I was frying the patties, mushrooms, and some bacon, I cut bought burger buns (yes, very lazy, I should have made them) in half and toasted the outsides under the grill (broiler for Americans) in the oven. Then I turned them over and put slices of cheese on the top halves before toasting the insides:

Barker's Green Tomato and Jalapeño chutney went on the inside of the bottom …

… followed by the meat pattie, …

… followed by some bacon, …

…mushrooms, …

… sliced cherry tomatoes, …

… Kewpie mayonnaise, …

… sliced cornichions and peppadews, …

… lettuce, …

… then the top of the burger:

I had one, Matt had two.

These are the purchased sauces and condiments I used:

Risotto

I like risotto OK, but it's not my favourite food so it doesn't get made a lot in my house. Watching various versions of MasterChef has made me want to get some practice at it though, and having my friend Matthias visiting from Portugal was a good opportunity. I also wanted to test out partial advance preparation.

This risotto was made from bits and pieces from the pantry. I had half a kabocha squash that I peeled, cubed and roasted …

… and I picked some runner beans from the garden …

… and grated and shaved some of my home made parmesan cheese:

I used some frozen chicken stock too - I keep on making stock and freezing it, then have to remember to use it up.

I started with some shallots and garlic that I sweated in olive oil until they were well and truly softened …

… then added some white wine, cooked that off, then started adding the hot stock, shaking and stirring and adding more …

… until the rice was about half cooked. Then I spread it out on a large dish, pressing clingfilm over it to stop any nasty skin forming, and left it in the pantry to go cold:

Apparently this is how they do it in restaurants.

Later on, when Matt had come back from his adventure of that day, I loosened the half cooked risotto with more hot stock, returned it to the pan, and continued the cooking process:

When the rice was almost done I added the roast squash and beans …

… then stirred in the grated parmesan

I served it with pan fried salmon steaks …

… and a little shaved parmesan and pepper:

I think it was good risotto, the rice was firm and the risotto oozed over the plates. It's still not my favourite thing though.

Aaaargh

I have various posts ready to do, but I had a house guest just recently who has used up my whole month's worth of broadband (10GB) so I'm at dial up speed at home until after the 26th. Can't upload photos at that rate, so this blog is on hold until after I get back from a motorbike race meeting in Palmerston North next weekend.

Adelaide shoes 2

These were also $30 from Zu in my last trip to Adelaide, and are laser cut leather:

Shorter than yesterday's, and with lower but spikier heels.

Adelaide boots 1.

I bought two pairs of shoes on my recent visit to Adelaide.

Number one is this pair of laser-cut leather peep-toe ankle boots:

The heels are rather high, but thick, so not too difficult to walk in. Not easy, mind you. Wouldn't want to go for my lunchtime walk in them.

They were $30 in Zu's sale - as was the other pair I bought, which I'll show you tomorrow.