Risotto Balls

I rarely make appetizers before dinner, unless I make something that requires a fair amount of prep work or that has a long cook time. This week I made a simple lemon risotto for dinner and ended up with plenty of leftovers, by plenty I mean around 2 cups of the cooked risotto. I had tried some fried rice balls, or better known as Arancini at a couple Italian restaurants, and decided to give these little fritters a shot.

There really is no science to make these. I decided to take my leftovers out about 20 minutes before cooking them, just to make sure that the rice was cold in the center after frying. Other than that all there is to it is: Take about 1 tbsp of the rice and making a little ball out of it. Dunk it into milk (or an egg wash) and then coat in bread crumbs. Fry until golden brown.

I used my basic Risotto recipe, as seen here. But the only thing I did differently was use 1 lemon, instead of 2 and I omitted the vegetables. You can definitely add peas, or other small cut veggies into the risotto as long as it stays relatively "bite-sized". Once fried, let them cool for a minute and grate some fresh cheese on top, eat immediately!

Hummus with Jalapeño

Hummus is one of those appetizers that almost everyone loves. Its great with Pita Chips or even with veggies. I only made my first hummus a few months ago after I finally got around to buying some chickpeas and tahini. All other ingredients are basic staples in my pantry. One of my favorite store bought hummus is sabra, particularly the Jalapeno flavored one. So my take on hummus is adding some pickled jalapeño slices to add that spicy kick. Since I made this particular version for a friends party, I took it easy with the jalapeños since I wasn't sure if everyone going would love the spicier version of it.

Ingredients:

15.5 oz. can chickpeas
3 tbsp. tahini
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup water
Juice of 1 lemon
4- 6 slices of jalapeño




In a food processor, mix the fully drained chickpeas, tahini and garlic cloves with the water until ingredients start blending together. Add the salt, pepper and lemon juice and pulse a few times. Slowly start adding the olive oil until it is fully blended and smooth. Add the jalapeños and keep pulsing until desired taste.

Feel free to add more garlic or olive oil as needed. Place in bowl and sprinkle some paprika or cayenne pepper for additional heat and drizzle some olive oil over it.