Planning for Leftovers: Risotto

I've read some pretty depressing magazine articles about planning for leftovers-you know the sort of thing where you make say, a roast on Sunday, and by the end of the week, you're having it in bottled barbecue sauce over egg noodles, and tossing it in your salad with frozen french fries. I am, nonetheless, actually a sucker for a good plan for multiple meals, featuring economy and clever, tasty consumption of every scrap of something truly good.

Of course, many well loved, classic dishes seem to have originated with the disguising and/or stretching of leftovers, especially leftover meat: beef mironton, corned beef hash, shepherd's pie, that lot. They are good enough that people make them from scratch, on purpose, forgoing the original Big Piece of Meat dinner altogether.

Vegetable and starchy leftovers mostly appear in soup, where they are put to very good use indeed. Right now, I am having asparagus-related leftovers, under normal circumstances an oxymoron around here. But this is the second week that the asparagus has been under $2.00 a pound at the supermarket, and I'm going crazy trying to consume their entire inventory, without wasting any. One thing I made from all this bounty was Julie's Lemon/Asparagus Risotto, which I cannot recommend too highly. So delicious, and I am bound to admit, embarassing though it is, that I ate half of the recipe all by myself for supper.

It was the other half that was left which sent me looking for a vaguely remembered recipe in
Vegetarian Suppers From Deborah Madison's Kitchen. It turns out that Ms. Madison, though fond of risotto, does not fancy it, alone, as a main dish. She had a from-scratch recipe for some rice fritters/croquettes, which had a risotto-like beginning. With some trepidation and fears of crumbling croquettes-especially in light of the bumpiness of the asparagus in my rice, I decided to try something similar with the leftovers.

These are just sooo good, you're gonna love them, and they did not fall apart at all. There is, of course, nothing to say that you must use this particular risotto recipe. It could be good with all sorts- or you could make one big pancake of your risotto, and that would probably resemble the Risotto al Salto which someone so lovingly described in the travel section of the NYTimes last week, in an article about Milan.

You need:

Half of Julie's risotto recipe or thereabouts
Panko crumbs
a lemon
a beaten egg or two

julienned veg of choice and season, and compatable chopped herbs (I used leeks, asparagus, carrots, red onion, snow peas and chives.)
bit of butter
mixture of canola and olive oil for frying

Put some panko on a pie plate, and your beaten egg(s) in a shallow bowl. Line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with waxed paper. Using a 1/3 cup measure, scoop up some chilled risotto, and form it into a flattened egg shape. Dip in egg to coat with one hand, and the panko with the other. (This will keep the panko hand dry.) When nicely coated with crumb, set it on the lined pan. Repeat until you have used up the risotto. Chill the pan in the fridge til almost time to eat.

Put your julienned veg on a serving plate, top with a bit of butter and squirt of lemon, and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave briefly until crisp-tender, and set aside, covered, to keep warm. Meanwhile heat the oil in a heavy wide bottomed pan, until not quite smoking, and slide in the croquette things carefully. Fry 5 or 6 minutes, turning once, until golden brown and cooked through. Adjust heat if they satrt browning two fast. While they cook, throw away the waxed paper, and line the cookie sheet with paper towels. As the croquettes are finished, set them on the paper towels to blot.

When ready, arrange on the bed of veg, cut the rest of your lemon into wedges and arrange them on the serving plate with the goodies, and eat 'em up. If there are others present they will fight over them because there are not enough. Make more next time, I kid you not.

Comments

[Vicki]

Yummy! Add a little cube of cheese in the middle, and you've got arancini!

[Tanna]

I recently had some leftover risotto and did something very similar and find this as good as you say. They are terrific and yes I will be making much more next time.
I think you might also really enjoy this asparagus ribbon salad
http://desertcandy.blogspot.com/2007/04/shaved-asparagus-salad.html

[Julie]

This sounds soooo good! As does Vicki's suggestion.

Local asparagus will hit our market next weekend and I intend to eat it quantities of it while it's around. Your fritters are in my future.

[Julie]

P.S. Thanks for that nice mention of the asparagus risotto.

[Nupur]

I have not made risotto for ages! While Spring is still here, I need to get my act together and make some of this asparagus-lemon risotto...and these fried balls, they look sooo good!

[heather]

Oh Lindy, you are an inspiration. So much so, that I have decided to sign up for a local CSA. Based on your lovely posts and in honor of Earth Day, I will soon be the recipient of weekly boxes bursting with fresh, locally grown organic goodness. THANK YOU!

[French Laundry at Home]

Great idea -- keep 'em coming! I can almost smell these through the internet. :)

[june]

Our asparagus in the UK is really inexpensive this year too. I wonder why. Do you think it is because, like salmon, people start growing a luxury item and then discover that everyone else has done it too? I haven't got beyond simmering it, eating it hot, eating it cold and putting the rest in the risotto. I like the idea of the Lemon/Asparagus risotto and am wondering about preserved lemons...

[almost vegetarian]

When we have lots of leftovers, I make something I call a "Munch Plate." Bit of this, slice of that, taste of something else. It's usually fun, always different, and frequently interesting. The variety of healthy and I get to use up odds and ends of food that would otherwise go to waste. Pretty good!

Cheers.

[Melissa]

Gosh, that sounds good! I just have to make some Risotto to have the leftovers on hand!

[lindy]

Recently made some more of these, this time with leftovers from a summer squash/squash blossom risotto with saffron. I had them on a bed of arugula that had been dressed with a lemon vinagrette. Very, very nice Saturday lunch.