Risotto Balls...

If there is one thing I can't stand, it's wasting food. That little half serve that is put in a bowl and cling-wrapped after a meal for 'later' only to be put in the bin in 3 days time definitely gets to me. However I was quite happy the other day when I had a bowl of leftover risotto from Troy's and my dinner the night before and decided to make Huddo..Risotto Balls for lunch with the left overs. I normally just spoon feed him risotto but it was a day where I was keen to give the pantry and fridge a wipe down so I thought I'd make a little finger-food friendly meal that would keep him occupied while I did a quick clean and assess dates on herbs, spices, sauces, etc.

Firstly I'll give you the recipe I used to make the risotto itself:

Tuna, Mushroom & Pumpkin Risotto

Ingredients:
180g Tinned Sirena Tuna
200g Sliced Mushrooms
600g Diced Kent Pumpkin
1 brown onion (chopped finely)
250g Broccoli (broken into small florets)
2 cups of Aborio Rice
4 cups of vegetable stock
20g finely grated parmesan.
2 tablespoons of ricotta
clove of garlic (crushed)
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil

Method:
1)Panfry mushrooms, onion, garlic & pumpkin in tablespoon olive oil and teaspoon of butter until pumpkin is soft and golden
2)Add Tuna and rice and vegie stock. Throw in a splash of salt and pepper to season. Cover with lid and allow to simmer on medium heat. Stir regularly while liquid is absorbed into the rice.
3)About 10 minutes into the rice cooking add the broccoli into the mix
4)Once liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked at parmesan and ricotta.
5)Allow to sit and cheese to cook in on low for 2 minutes. Serve and sprinkle some extra parmesan on top if so desired.


Next day...with a cold bowl of risotto leftovers!

Set yourself up a plate with some flour, breadcrumbs and a bowl of 2 eggs whisked with a fork....

1) Roll a small ball of risotto mix

2) Roll the ball in some flour until covered

3) Dip the ball in egg until covered

4) Roll the ball in breadcrumbs until covered.

5) Repeat steps 1-4 for as many balls as you care to make or until risotto is all done.

I managed to get 12 risotto balls out of my bowl of leftovers and put 6 into a snap-lock bag and froze them. With these 6 I put them into a small saucepan that was about 3cm deep in vegetable oil and on med/high heat and cooked for 90 seconds until golden.

I then let them cool on a plate covered in paper towel so that any excess oil could be absorbed off.

And then gave them to Mr Huddo for his lunch (...as well as a pear sliced into fingers, some saltanas, and a banana)
Which he happily ate and baby-chatted to me while I cleaned the fridge and pantry...

He eats pretty quickly these days so good thing I clean the pantry pretty regularly and there isn't too much to clean and tidy...before I was a stay-at-home Mummy I used to hoard out-of-date sauces, herbs and spices like antiques!!