Any leftover risotto can be transformed into wonderful, crispy arancini - so if you have some already made, skip straight to the end of the recipe. I like to make the risotto the night before and simply shape and fry it the next morning for some stress free picnicking.
Makes 10
Ingredients
For the risotto:
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp oil
20g butter
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
125g arborio rice
100ml dry white wine
550ml vegetable stock
150g peas - frozen is fine (100g for pureeing, 50g left whole)
30g pecorino, grated
Half a lemon
For the arancini:
1 egg, beaten
50g plain flour
60g breadcrumbs
A neutral oil for frying - vegetable or rapeseed
Salt and pepper
Method
Heat the pan over a low heat, add the oil and half of the butter.
Add the shallot, leave to sweat for 7 minutes, add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
Add the rice to the pan, keeping the heat super low. Stir the rice and cook for around 3 minutes. You want it to start turning nice and translucent at the ends. Turn the heat up a little and add the wine. Let it look off before adding the stock. Add a couple of ladlefuls at a time - your risotto should take about 20 minutes of this until it’s fully cooked.
Meanwhile, blitz 100g of peas with a stick blender.
Once your rice is fully cooked, stir through the pureed peas, the remaining 50g of whole peas (if using frozen, add them in straight from the freezer, they’ll hold their shape better) the remaining half of the butter and the pecorino. Stir until all elements are fully incorporated.
Add a squeeze of lemon and season to taste. Leave the risotto to cool in the fridge for at least an hour until completely chilled - or overnight if you have the time.
Add the flour, breadcrumbs and egg into three separate wide, shallow bowls. Season each of the ingredients well.
Roll a small handful of risotto. They should be roughly palm sized - a little bigger than a golf ball. You should be able to make around 10 in total.
Roll each of the balls in the flour, followed by the egg and lastly, in the breadcrumbs.
Heat around 1cm of oil in a frying pan until hot. Add the arancini into the pan and shallow fry. Do this in batches, not to overcrowd the pan, turning occasionally until they’re golden and crispy on all sides. Place on some kitchen paper to soak up any excess oil.
Written by Emma Cantlay - Mainly Breakfast
This pasta salad can be made with any dried pasta and pesto combination! I personally have fond memories of being taught how to make Orecchiette in Italy by an amazing 80year old Nonna, so I am a big fan, translated Orecchiette means “Little ears'', they are noticeably thicker than other pasta shapes and have a nice bite to them. To make them by hand, you take a long thin sausage of pasta dough and cut and roll each individual piece with the back of a knife. Goes without saying...if you haven’t been making it for years, it will take you a long time to make enough for dinner.
Serves 4-6 as part of a spread or 2 as a main meal
Ingredients
250g of Dried Orecchiette or Other pasta
A handful (roughly 40g) Basil/Wild Garlic/ Rocket or Spinach
75ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ TspSalt
½ Tsp Freshly milled black pepper
1 Small garlic clove (omit the garlic if you’re using wild garlic)
Juice of ½ a lemon
Optional -
Grated parmesan
Seeds or nuts (Pumpkin seeds or hazelnuts are great!)
Method - can be made a day ahead and kept in the fridge.
Cook the pasta as detailed on the packets instructions, making sure to salt your water.
Once cooked, drain and run under cold water until all the pasta is cold. Tip the cold pasta into a bowl and drizzle with a little oil over it,, mix this through to stop the pasta sticking together.
To make your pesto, add all the ingredients to a blender, blend until your preferred coarseness (some like it chunky, some like it smooth). Be sure to taste your pesto and adjust the seasoning.
Mix your pesto through the pasta, add in seeds or extra grated cheese for some texture.
This might be one of my all time favourite ‘salads’. I call it a salad loosely because I’m not entirely sure it qualifies as one - but it does have all of my favourite things in it so I will continue to eat it and call it so. It’s fairly robust so travels well if need be. Will serve 2 alone as a Summer lunch with a good chunk of sourdough.
Serves 4 as part of a spread
Ingredients
60g rocket
1 ball of mozzarella (125g)
40-50g of prosciutto
1 nectarine
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt
Method
Tear up the mozzarella and prosciutto and drape onto the bed of rocket, slice the nectarine into thin wedges and scatter across.
Dress the salad with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar. Season with a little sea salt, not being too heavy handed, the prosciutto will already bring a nice saltiness to the dish.
Recipe by Emma Cantlay - Mainly Breakfast
