LBFM

It’s the first full day since the spring forward! Those of you who haven’t advanced your clocks by an hour, make sure you remember to get on that so you won’t be late tomorrow for any important date (or school or work)!

An extra hour of sunshine means, for me,

a relaxing apres-dinner walk with my mum in a hazy sunset while hearing the first honks of the returning Canadian geese.

a little less stress about starting my runs at 3pm.

better light in which to enjoy the most loving meal of the day.

What do you do with your extra bit of sun?

Where there’s a gain, there’s a loss, in last night’s case, it was an hour of sleep. Not too bad, for an 180 extra hours of sunshine over the next six months!

So since I sort of have a short day, I think it’s fair that this post be kept short and sweet.

Arancini are deep-fried risotto balls stuffed with cheese, herbs, and/or meat. As deep-frying nearly never happens in my kitchen, I made a baked version that’s just as crispy golden, and with the same ooey-gooey cheese filling of fresh mozzarella.

You can use any leftover cheese risotto, set in the fridge overnight, to make these, and just serve with a simple green salad and cold marinara sauce for a light dinner!

There’s no recipe, really, but here’s the idea:

Set up a dredge station. Put 1 cup each of rice flour and crushed cornflakes in two separate bowls. Season the rice flour with salt and pepper, and the cornflakes with lots of grated parmigiana, italian herbs, and more salt. Crack an egg into the third bowl and beat it lightly, adding a couple tablespoons of water.

The complete assembly should be, from right to left: 3 cups cold risotto, 20 mozzarella cubes, cup rice flour, beaten egg, crushed corn flakes, baking sheet sprayed with a little oil.

Now, use an ice cream scoop to scoop out similar portions of risotto. Push a cube (2 cm) of mozzarella into the center of each portion and seal the opening shut by shaping the risotto between your hands. Roll the risotto balls in the rice flour, then dip it in the egg, finally, coat it completely with the corn flakes and set on the baking sheet. Repeat until you use up all your risotto. Drizzle with a little olive oil.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden, crispy, and the center is piping hot.

Serve immediately with a cold, tangy marinara sauce for dipping!