Risotto cakes with fontina

Having leftover risotto and leftover roasted carrots, I looked around for a risotto cake recipe. I found a few and this is what I came up with.

2 C leftover risotto (mine was made with roasted garlic and thyme)
1 C roasted carrots, chopped
1/2 C fontina cheese, shredded
1/4 C chopped parsley
1 egg
1/2 C breadcrumbs

Mix the cold risotto with breadcrumbs, cheese, parsley, carrots, and egg. Shape into 4" rounds and chill. Heat oil and saute cakes until crisp and brown.

**Delicious- Keeper

Roasted sweet garlic, thyme and marscapone risotto with toasted almonds and breadcrumbs

This comes from Jamie Oliver's, The Return of the Naked Chef. I am going to try to do the risotto in my pressure cooker to save time. I've done it once with great results.

serves 6

• 1 x basic risotto recipe
• 2 large heads of garlic, whole and unpeeled
• 1 good handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 155g/5½oz shelled and peeled almonds, lightly crushed, cracked or chopped
• 2 handfuls of coarse fresh breadcrumbs
• olive oil
• 2 heaped tablespoons mascarpone cheese

Roast the whole garlic heads on a dish in the oven at 230°C/450°F/gas
8 for about 30 minutes until soft. Separate the cloves and squeeze out
the sweet insides. Add with the thyme at the start of Stage 3 of the
basic risotto recipe. In a frying pan toast the almonds and
breadcrumbs in a little olive oil until crisp and golden. Season with
a little salt. Set to one side. Serve the risotto with a dollop of
mascarpone on the top and sprinkle over the toasted almonds and
breadcrumbs. Lovely.

Jamie Oliver's basic risotto recipe 

approx• 1.1 litres/2 pints stock (chicken, fish or vegetable as appropriate)
• 1 knob of butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• ½ a head of celery, finely chopped
• 400g/14oz risotto rice
• 2 wineglasses of dry white vermouth (dry Martini or Noilly Prat) or dry white wine
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 70g/2½oz butter
• 115g/4oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese
stage 1

Heat the stock. In a separate pan heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions, garlic and celery, and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.

stage 2

The rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the vermouth or wine and keep stirring — it will smell fantastic. Any harsh alcohol flavours will evaporate and leave the rice with a tasty essence.

stage 3

Once the vermouth or wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and almost massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. Taste the rice — is it cooked? Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Don’t forget to check the seasoning carefully. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water.

stage 4

Remove from the heat and add the butter and Parmesan. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 minutes. This is the most important part of making the perfect risotto, as this is when it becomes outrageously creamy and oozy like it should be. Eat it as soon as possible, while the risotto retains its beautiful texture.

 ** I roasted one head of garlic and I thought it was a bit too much. I was too hungry and tired to do the almonds and breadcrumbs. And to top it all off- I didn't have time to get the marscapone. I used the pressure cooker for the risotto. I sauteed the onion in butter, then added 1 1/2 C arborio rice- coating it well with the butter. I then added 3 1/2 C stock, took it to high pressure for 6 minutes, then quick-released the steam. I squashed the roasted garlic cloves and stirred them into the risotto along with the fresh thyme. Good flavor, right texture.
##Not a big hit for leftovers. I'll turn it along with the carrots into risotto cakes.

Sunflower Seed Casserole

I have been meaning to try this recipe for some time, you can find it on Cooks Recipes. I am looking for a loaf that will taste nice as leftovers in a sandwich.

2 cups sunflower seeds
2 cups cashews
3/4 cup water
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
5 cups cooked brown rice
2-1/2 teaspoon vegetarian broth powder
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt to taste

1. Finely grind the sunflower seeds in a food processor. Place them in a large bowl.
2. Blend together cashews and water in the food processor until smooth.
3. Combine all ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Place in a greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Bake at 325°F (160°C), covered, for 45 minutes. Remove cover and continue baking an additional 45 minutes.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

* I'll be putting this into a loaf pan.  

Going into the oven..

**Great loaf-not dry at all. I doubled the garlic powder. I didn't have the cashews, so I used 2/3 C soaked Brazil nuts and 1 1/3 C soaked almonds. I ended up putting it back in the oven because the middle was still mushy (the end was ok). It seemed like it needed a bit more salt, but since I steamed the broccoli with celtic sea salt, it seemed to balance it out. Next time, I'll add some herbs into the mix.

Cuban Green Rice

This recipe comes from a cookbook I received many years ago from my sister. It is a great vegetarian cookbook with recipes from all over the world, World Food Cafe: Global Vegetarian Cooking. Normally I would serve plain rice with the aloo gobi, but I felt like this week's menu has been short on greens, so I thought to try this rice. If it isn't green enough, I might saute some spinach as well. I didn't make it in time to save the parsley from the deep freeze, so I ended up buying it.

Serves 4-6
3 T oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded de-ribbed, and finely chopped*
large handful of fresh parsley sprigs, chopped
large handful of fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
2 C rice, rinsed and drained
2 1/2 C vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and saute the onion and bell pepper until they start to soften.
Stir in the parsley and cilantro. Add the rice and stir to coat all the grains in oil. Add just enough stock to cover the rice and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until all the moisture is absorbed. Add salt and pepper.

*I don't like bell peppers, so I'll skip this ingredient. I'll use Basmati rice.

** No picture. But I can tell you this was a great rice dish. It went well with the aloo gobi. The flavors were great. You'll need to keep your eye on it at the end of the cooking- it didn't take very long. I was surprised the rice cooked through with just 2 1/2 C of liquid, but it did.