In which I finally post pictures of my Easter chocolates and I discover a fantastic use for leftover risotto!

Apologies for not including the results of my chocolate making sooner. Let’s just say that so far, 2012 has not been my year.

Lessons learned from this session of chocolate making:

1.   It is relatively easy to make chocolate covered hazelnuts (which I pre-roasted), although it does take a number of layers. The number of layers depends on your taste but you really need at least two.

2.   It is extremely painful to make chocolate covered peanuts (also pre-roasted). Particularly with white chocolate. It’s much better to make peanut clusters, add the nuts into mini bars.

3.   Laziness will take you a certain distance and then you have to walk the rest of the way. Bought praline filling does save time but can be sticky to handle and is very sweet.

But I think the results were worth the many hours in the kitchen!

Fun with leftovers

Last week I made risotto for the first time in a long while. So long in fact, that I forgot I was cooking for two people and not twenty…

There was a lot leftover. Even after we took lunch and gave some to the dogs and the chickens, there was still a lot leftover.

So I froze the remainder, knowing that risotto is not something that improves with time. I had a vague notion that the thawed risotto was not going to be pretty but figured it was like a savings plan for the chickens.

Then yesterday, inspiration struck. Arancini! I had tried to make these once or twice before, the first time was fairly disastrous and the last time I think I had to make the rice to do it and the whole process seemed laborious for the dubious result at the end. But this time, I was prepared. I had delicious premade risotto and all I had to do was assemble!!

Once the risotto was defrosted, I mixed in a little self-raising flour to make it sticky enough to form and mixed in some peas. Then I formed balls and pushed a little mozzarella into the centre, reformed the balls and rolled them in a mixture of self-raising flour and cornflour.

Once all the arancini were rolled I put them in the fridge so they stayed firm until ready.

To cook, I heated my wok and then added enough olive oil to shallow fry. Once heated, I added the arancini, four at a time and cooked until golden. 

Once cooked, these were placed in a warm oven (150 degrees Celsius) until all the arancini were cooked.

At the same time I made a reduction of balsamic vinegar, blood plum vinegar and vino cotto by slowly heating. A nice swirl of this on the plate and a side of baby spinach salad and all that's missing is the arancini.

This was delicious and the arancini were nice and cheesy.