Balls!

Hectic is how I would describe life at the moment. I have this idea that at some point life will slow down a little, I'll have a little more time and I'll get things done that I've been wanted to get around to doing. It never seems to happen though, something is always going on.

There are some things that can be done to save a little bit of time here and there. One of those things is leftovers. Not something that should be happening to much in the world of amine sensitivities, but it can be done. No one in this house would normally want to eat the same thing for dinner twice in a week, but if you reinvent it and use it for lunch boxes, well, that's a different story.

Risotto is something I can never make the right amount of. I don't think I've ever really tried to be honest. But risotto is also pretty uninspiring reheated. So what do you do with it? You turn it into balls!

This is not so much a precise recipe as a general guide. There are those that would argue that arancini should have a centre and they would be right, but there really isn't much for us failsafers to put in the centre. So they remain centreless.

Arancini - Risotto Balls
Ingredients

• 1 quantity leftover risotto.
• Egg - probably one unless you have a tonne of leftovers
• salt
• crumbs

Method

1. Heat oven to 180℃
2. Once leftovers are reasonably cool add some extra salt to taste and mix in beaten egg. All of the mixture needs to be moist, but not sloppy.
3. Roll into balls of desired size and roll into crumbs.
4. Place on baking tray and bake for approximately 20 mins (depending on size) or until hot through. (Alternatively, you could shallow fry them in a frying pan)

 These make for a great lunch box filler. Make sure you freeze them once they are cool enough with paper in between layers. We put them into lunchboxes straight from the freezer and they are thawed by lunchtime. It puts a bit of variety into lunches that could otherwise consist of rice cakes every day.

Variations
Dairy/amines - Do it properly and place a cube of mozzarella in the centre of each ball.

Making Something Out Of Nothing

Do you ever completely misjudge something? It has taken me a while to get used to not cooking too much in one go when it comes to dinners. Meat based leftovers have such a short life span that leftovers are usually wasted. So most of the time leftovers are minimal, but every now and again I totally misjudge quantities. For example, the other weekend my parents came over for a meal which included mashed potato. So I was over catering to begin with, but went completely over the top. I had a ridiculous amount of leftovers and was loath to waste them. What to do, what to do?

Vegetable croquettes of course! They can contain anything that you have on hand. If you've got other leftover veg (or meat), chuck 'em in. A can of beans? Chuck 'em in. Pretty much anything can go into them.

Crispy on the outside, hot and squishy on the inside.

Again, this isn't an actual recipe, just an idea, a bit of inspiration.

Vegetable Croquettes
Suggested ingredients

• leftover mashed potato
• finely chopped leek, shallot, celery, garlic, cabbage, brussels sprouts
• grated swede
• any vegetable puree you may have
• cooked lentils
• tinned beans (kidney, cannellini, chickpeas etc)
• egg(s)
• salt 
• crumbs
• oil for frying

Method  

1. Saute or steam any raw vegetables
2. Mix them through the mashed potato adding salt to taste.
3. Add as many lightly beaten eggs as necessary to moisten your vegetable mixture (unless you went completely over the top, one is probably enough).
4. Take about a tablespoon at a time and shape into a log and coat in crumbs.
5. When they are all done heat enough oil for shallow frying in a frying pan and cook in batches until they are golden on the outside and hot through. 
6. Drain on paper towel if necessary.
7. Try not to burn your mouth as you shovel them in.

Hubby thought that I had bought them and not just thrown them together from leftovers.

Oh Crumbs!

I was recently disappointed by the unavailability of my favourite rice crumbs. It seems not only that they are not in the shops, but the company is no longer in existence. There are other brands around, but I've never been overly impressed with them. So like everything else these days, it seems I have to make them myself. I had made other forays into rice crumbs with varying results, as it was usually a last minute "oh my god I'm out of crumbs" moment. So I've made a little more effort to have crumbs on hand, and they are really quite simple to make. The bonus is that they don't have to be rice, they can be whatever puffed grain that you can tolerate and have on hand. I actually quite like a combination of rice and millet.

This is not so much a recipe as a guide to making great crumbs.

What you need is

• Puffed grains - whichever you like, although if they are bigger they will process more easily. Quinoa and amaranth probably won't work very well (but feel free to give it a go). I used a bag of puffed rice and half a bag of puffed millet. 
• A large baking tray.

How to do it

1. Preheat your oven to about 130℃
2. Tip your cereals into the baking tray and put into the oven 
3. Stir them around every 5-10mins so none get burnt and once they have dried out and gone crispy they are ready for the next step. The time will depend on how many are in the tray and what grain you are using. When you stir them grab one and try to crush it, if it crumbles easily, they are ready.
4. Put into a food processor and blitz until you have crumbs.
5. Store in an airtight container.

Yummy crumbs.

Use them as you will, but everything tastes better crumbed!