When I think back to my time studying abroad in Italy, a lot of mouthwatering food comes to mind – including rice balls. Though a lot of the time they contained ham or some other kind of meat, here and there I was able to find vegetarian ones. They were gooey, rich, and delicious, and I’m not sure that I’ve eaten them since my time in Sicily. That’s why when I came across risotto cakes in my newest cookbook, Essential Vegetarian, I knew I had to try the recipe.
Rice balls are typically deep fried. While they taste scrumptious, anything submerged in a bath of oil isn’t exactly waistline friendly. That’s why I tweaked the recipe and used less oil.
When I decided to make them last night for dinner, I failed to realize that this recipe takes a good amount of prep time. After cooking the risotto, I became impatient and hungry, and didn’t let the risotto chill for as long as instructed. They came out tasty, but they were probably harder to roll into balls than if they were refrigerated for the right amount of time. The effort is worth it, but consider yourself warned — leave 2+ hours to make these bad boys!
I pulled out all stops and made this meal a fancy-schmancy one! I paired the risotto balls with greens drizzled with olive oil + balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with sea salt & pepper…
…and garlic knot breadsticks made with pizza dough:
For dessert, I made a heavenly chocolate peanut butter treat. I took the easy route and threw together a Trader Joe’s truffle brownie boxed mix (By the way, it’s the first time I’ve made these dutch cocoa brownies and they’re YUMMY), but I added a fun twist to them by whisking peanut butter with almond milk, vanilla extract, and confectionary sugar, then drizzling it on top of the brownie batter.
Side note: As I took the above photo, someone was lurking behind my kitchen table shooting me very serious, pleading looks:
Lastly, the drink of choice for this meal was a bottle of Stag’s Leap Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon:
My hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed our vino with full bellies while watching the movie Bottleshock. It was a California wine themed night!
Here’s the risotto cake recipe:
Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto Balls
Ingredients
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 3/4 oz [light] butter
- 1/2 small onion minced
- 1 1/4 cup arborio rice
- 1/3 grated parmesan and/or pecorino romano cheese I used a blend
- 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 oz mozzarella cheese cut into small cubes
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce the heat, cover, and keep at a simmer.
- Meanwhile, heat olive oil and butter in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden. Reduce heat to low, then add arborio rice and cook, stirring, until the rice is lightly golden (around 3 minutes).
- Pour in about 1/4 of the hot stock and stir constantly until the liquid has been absorbed. Repeat this process until all the stock has been added and the rice is tender. This will take around 20 minutes.
- Stir in the grated cheese and remove from heat. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, allow to cool, then refrigerate for an hour.
- With wet hands, roll 2-3 TBSPs of the rice mixture into a ball. Push a cube of mozzarella and a few pieces of sun-dried tomato into the ball, reshaping to cover up the cheese and tomato. Repeat with remaining rice mixture to form 18 balls. Refrigerate for another 15 minutes.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium low heat. Using a large slotted spoon, lower 1/2 of the risotto balls into the oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown, then flip over. Remove with the spoon, and drain on paper towels. Repeat this process with the remaining cakes. Serve immediately.
The risotto balls looks AMAZING! i’m in class drooling and looking for recipes on your blog to make for dinner tonight with chris 🙂
Thank ya doll!! Haha, sounds like a good use of your class time to me 😉 I love that you cook for him & that you two cook together!