Recipes Twenty One and Twenty Two: Arancini & Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni.

Last night, after work I had a dinner party.

I'm not sure when I decided getting home from work & having only an hour to get myself, the house and food ready for 5 guests would be a good idea but I must have been seriously sleep/caffeine/sanity deprived.

That said the night actually turned out really nicely.

No-one mentioned the slightly unkempt house or host and everyone ate up with tonnes of enthusiasm.
We then made coffee and had the funniest, uncivilized game of scrabble I have ever been involved with.

Like I said, excellent night.

On the menu was Arancini, Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni & Double Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake.

The last of which I will be putting in its own glorious post on Monday.

Oh, and before I get started a big thank you to my little, although much taller brother  for manning the camera whilst I cooked away.

Arancini:

2 cups of left over Risotto.

(I am doing a post of my favourite, 'non stir-stick in the oven and wait' recipe soon)

1/2 a cup of Plain flour in a bowl.

1 Egg

1 tablespoon of Milk

1 cup of Panko bread crumbs in a bowl.

1cm cubes of Mozzarella

Vegetable oil for deep frying (the amount will depend on the size of your pan)

Roll two tablespoons of risotto into a ball and press one piece of mozzarella into the center, 

mould the risotto back over the cheese.

Combine milk & egg in a small bowl and give a slight whisk so they are combined.

Once all of your balls are made coat them all in this order:

Flour

shake off excess

Milk & Egg mix

drain off excess

Bread Crumbs

Next up you want to heat up your oil until a cube of bread dropped in there will sizzle around and brown in about 10 seconds. Then gently fry your arancini in batches until heated through and brown.

Serve nice and hot so your mozzarella is nice & melty.

Serve.

Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni:

8 Lasagne Sheets

500gms of Ricotta Cheese

100gms of Fetta (crumbled very finely)
1 cup of grated cheddar
1/2 a cup of parmesan

1 Tablespoon of Basil

1 Jar of Passata
1 teaspoon of sugar.

1 large red capsicum

1 packet of frozen spinach, thawed.

Preheat the oven to 200C

Slice your capsicum into 4cm strips and place under a very hot grill until the skin blackens.
Once the skin is black immediately transfer to a tupperware container or zip-loc bag. The capsicum will sweat in here and make the skin very easy to remove.

Combine ricotta, fetta and Parmesan in a bowl, add thawed spinach and the salt and pepper to taste.

In blender add the passata, basil, sugar and skinned capsicum.
Blend until smooth.

Take 1/2 of this sauce and spread over the bottom of a large oven safe dish.

Cut each lasagna sheet in half through the long side.
Then on the short side of the half spoon approx 1/4 cup of filling along the edge.
Roll up and place join side down on the sauce in the dish.
Continue until all cut sheets are filled.

Spread the rest of the sauce over the top of the cannelloni and sprinkle with the cheddar and more Parmesan if desired.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese has browned and the cannelloni are warmed through.

Serve.
Play Scrabble.

xx

Recipe Fourteen: Whiskey Meatballs

I first saw these babies here.

And then followed them back to here.

And now, with a few alterations they are being eaten by my Christmas Eve guests.

My main change to this recipe was replacing the bought frozen meatballs with some home-made frozen meatballs and swapping out the Bourbon for plain old Tennessee Whiskey.

This will definitely become one of my 'make-ahead/pot luck/easy entertaining' recipes.

Meatballs:

500gms of Pork and Veal Mince

(Our butcher minces and sells them together otherwise you want 250gm of each)

1/2 an Onion, finely chopped.

1 cup of Breadcrumbs

1 clove of garlic, minced.

1/2 a tablespoon of dried thyme.

1/4 of a cup of cheddar cheese.

2eggs

Salt and pepper.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and either using you hands (which is far more satisfying and does a much better job) or a wooden spoon mush all the ingredients together until mixed evenly.

Rolls mixture into balls and place on a plate, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat a little oil in a large pan and in two batches brown meatballs all over.

Don't stress about cooking them all the way through, they are going to be cooked again in their glaze for a couple of hours.

Pop these babies in the freezer until a few hours before you want to serve the dish.

The Whiskey Glaze:

1/2 a cup of Tomato Sauce

1/2 a cup of Brown Sugar

1/4 cup of Whiskey

1 teaspoon of Lemon Juice

1 teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce

Combine all of these ingredients in a bowl and whisk until mix is smooth.

In a pan on low-medium heat on the stove (or in a slow-cooker set on high) place your frozen meatballs and pour over the glaze, stir the meatballs around so they are all covered.

Let the sauce heat through and the meat balls warm up (stirring every now and then) then turn your stove right down to low (or your slow-cooker onto low) and let them stew away for 2 hours.

Serve!

xx

Recipe Twelve: Devilled Eggs

Devilled Eggs.

Absolutely retro.

Absolutely no idea how to make them.

From what Google tells me there are hundreds of variations on this recipe and I had to choose one.

I chose the most basic, able to be made out of what I had on hand version:

Devilled Eggs.

12 Eggs 

4 Tablespoons of Whole Egg Mayonnaise 

3-4 (to personal taste) Tablespoons of Dijon Mustard.

1 Tablespoon of chopped chives.

Paprika (to decorate)

Chives (to decorate)

1.Hard Boil your eggs. I start with enough cold water to cover the eggs by about an inch & use a Egg-Perfect (I'm not paid to link here but that is where you can get your own!) timer and my eggs are perfect every.single.time.

2. Peel The Eggs:

3. Chop the eggs in half & pop out the yolks.

4.Combine the hard boiled yolks, mayonnaise, mustard and chives in a bowl and mash together until smooth.

5. Fill a piping bag fitted with a plain round nozzle with the yolk mix and pipe this back into the empty egg whites.

6.Sprinkle the tops of your eggs with paprika and fresh chopped chives.

xx