We had our friends Pat and Timothy over to watch the Oscars with us, and together we made this dish and another one from the Vegetarian Suppers book. Asparagus was just coming into the market and I was craving spring food. This was perfect for my craving. This dish is a little bit complicated to make, but it was worth it. You can make the rice croquettes ahead of time so that when it is time to eat, all you have to do is fry up the croquettes and and saute the veggies.
Start by heating to a simmer 1 quart of water in a 3-quart pan. Thinly slice 3 bunches of scallions. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet, and when sizzling, add the scallions and saute for about 1 minute. Then add 2 cups arborio rice and stir to coat the rice and brown it a little. Add the rice to the simmering water, cover, and cook for 16 minutes. Set the timer so you can forget about the rice while you prepare other stuff.
Finely zest 2 lemons, chop 2 T. of basil, grate 1/2 cup of parmesan, and dice 1 ball of mozzarella. When the rice is finished cooking, stir all that into the rice, along with some salt and pepper. Then stir in 1 beaten egg. Let the rice cool while you chop the vegetables for the stir fry.
Wash and trim 2 big leeks, 1 pound asparagus, and 2 handfuls sugar snap peas and 2 handfuls snow peas. Sliver all the vegetables and set them aside for sauteeing later.
Now it's time to shape the rice into croquettes, coat them in egg, and then in bread crumbs to get ready to fry them. Whisk 2 eggs in a pie pan. Put 3 cups bread crumbs in another pie pan. Scoop out 1/3 cup rice mixture at a time and shape into oval croquettes. Using your left hand, dip the croquette into the egg mixture. Then, using your right hand, dip the croquette in the bread crumbs. That way you won't get your eggs in your crumbs and vice versa. Set the croquettes on wax paper until you're ready to fry them.
Get out 2 skillets. Put olive oil in one and butter in the other. Fry the croquettes in the olive oil, removing them to a plate when golden on all sides. Sautee the veggies in the other, for only a minute or 2 with some sea salt. Add 2 T. lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons basil to the veggies.
Divide the veggies among warm plates, then arrange the croquettes on top, allowing 3 per serving.
Note: Since I only needed 3 croquettes per person, I ended up with quite a bit of leftover rice. We ate some for dinner a couple nights later, but we didn't like it much. I put it in the freezer to make more croquettes sometime in the future, since they were delicious prepared that way.
Things I'd do differently next time: I'd make the rice earlier in the day and then take a break.
Cost to prepare - I didn't save my receipt from this one, so I don't know the cost, but here is the list of ingredients.
Butter (1/2 cube)
Scallions, 3 bunches
Arborio rice, 2 cups
2 lemons
Basil
Fresh mozzarella, 1 ball
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3 eggs
3 cups bread crumbs
2 fat leeks
1 pound asparagus
2 handfuls snowpeas
2 handfuls other edible-pod peas like sugar snap peas
No comments:
Post a Comment