Love this! Last summer I visited the Jamie Oliver restaurant in Rotterdam with a friend of mine and we ordered the risotto balls on the menu. The idea is really easy and again you can just variate in all different ways. It costs time to make but it really is worth the effort.
Ingredients for 4 pers.:
- 300 gr risotto rice
- 1 onion
- 150 ml white wine
- 900 ml vegetable broth
- Mozzarella
- 3 tablespoons pesto
- Parmesan cheese
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 2 eggs
- 4 tablespoons twice baked bread
- Pepper
How to prepare it:
Start by cooking some water for the vegetable broth and put a large cooking pan with a thick bottom onto your stove. Chop the onion and add a dash of the olive oil in your pan. Weigh your rice to get the right amount. Heat up your stove, once the oil is hot you can add the onion. Fritter the onion for 2 mins before adding the rice. After you’ve added the rice, stir everything well until the rice is glazy from the oil. Let it bake for another minute. Add the wine; your pan should be really hot, so the wine will be cooking immediately. Make sure you keep stirring. Once the wine is evaporated you can start adding the bouillon. Add the bouillon in separated fases, approx.. 100-200 ml at a time. You need to stir very regularly to make sure the rice is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
The risotto is ready once it’s a creamy substance without any hard pieces. You can taste a bit to make sure the rice is ready. But you can also judge the rice by its color; the rice is bright white at the moment you start but it gets a friendlier and softer color once it’s ready. If you added all the bouillon but you’re not sure if the rice is ready you can always add some extra water, but be careful that you won’t add too much, the rice needs to remain sticky.
Once the rice is ready, take it off the stove. Stir the grated Parmesan cheese and some pepper through the risotto and let it cool down a bit. Cut the mozzarella into thin slices. Put the slices flat on a plate and scoop a bit of pesto on top. Roll it up to small rolls.
Fill the palm of your hand with risotto, make a small hole in the middle and put a mozzarella roll into that hole. Fold the risotto around the mozzarella so that a nice ball is following. Repeat this until you have enough risotto balls.
Now get three different plates ready.
Plate 1: add the flour and spread the flour onto the bottom of the plate.
Plate 2: add the eggs and stir them well.
Plate 3: this one is for the twice baked bread crumbs; add some salt, pepper and the lime grate. Stir well.
Take one of the risotto balls and take it through the flour, roll it through the eggs and finally through the twice baked-bread. Repeat this for all the balls.
Get your frying pan ready or use a wok, fill it up with olive oil. Heat up the oil (like really hot). Fry the balls for about 5-8 minutes depending on the size. You can serve them immediately.
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