Supplies for telephones? ...not quite.. it's actually "telephone wires," translated from Italian to English. What is it? Risotto patties with pesto and mozzarella, breaded and pan-fried. When you bite into it, the mozzarella melts and is stringy .. just like telephone wires... right.... ok I did look up all of that haha, I've never seen this dish on ANY Italian menu, maybe I just never quite looked in the appetizer section of the menu. It's supposed to be deep fried, but I'll save my calories for something different. This was probably the most labor/time intensive Italian dish I've made. Risotto is a long tedious process already, combine that with freshly made pesto (I got a cute 4 cup mini food processor for xmas : D) then mixed with some grilled chicken breasts, breaded then fried. All in all, this dish was 3 days in the making.
Day 1: Spinach Risotto. Day 2: Chicken. Day 3: Pesto ... combine all of that..... = SUPPLI AL TELEFONO!!!!!!! I guess you can call this a leftovers dish, hooray, I found something yummy to make with left over foods!
Day 1: This risotto was different than all the recipes I've tried. Typically I add all the stock at once, but this one actually made me stand there and stir in the stock one ladle at a time... until it's incorporated.. then add more stock.. stir, add more stock, stir... 30 minutes of stirring, so I guess it wasn't too bad. I paired this risotto with roasted duck and fingerling potatoes.. yes fancy smancy stuff right there (my mom bought a whole duck and gave me a piece to do whatever I wanted with it.) I saved up around 1/3-1/2 of the risotto so I can have it for my dish.
Day 2: My mom marinated some chicken and breaded it with italian bread crumbs and then I grilled it and made a large spinach salad with Feast From the East sesame dressing <- the BEST chinese chicken salad place ever (Located in and on Westwood : ) )! I saved the leftovers because I knew I was going to need it for my dish. Day 3: Pesto. I don't have pine nuts. I heard they were expensive. I don't want to buy pine nuts just to make pesto, so I searched the internet for alternatives... there were walnut recipes and almond recipes. I choose the almond one. It was good, not the best pesto, but maybe I have to let it merry in the fridge for a day or two. I went out and bought a bunch of basil. This pesto sauce is more expensive to make than to buy... that's not cool haha. So yes, then I put all the ingredients together and fried it. Whew. I also made some rosemary bread as well to go along with my pesto. It just came out of the machine.. : ) I plan to make gnoochi from scratch tomorrow and pair it with a pesto cream sauce.... we'll see. I'm just trying to see how much "from scratch" stuff I can actually do. I want to learn the very basics of cooking and cut back on the prepackaged stuff. I think I've been to enough restaurants and places to know what authentic tastes like. (I really want to learn how to make pasta from scratch) It's about time I try to have a food vacation in my very own home. I would love to be good at Italian, French, and Indian cooking.... I don't know why I don't care to learn much about my own heritage haha, maybe it's because there aren't any recipes in the internet that are reliable. As for Asian food, I eyeball everything. I'm desperately searching for the perfect soft buns recipes and the Chinese birthday cake recipe (or cake mix) I have the recipe for sponge cake.. but that's just not the same.. I can't justify using 10 eggs for a cake!
Recipe 1: Spinach Risotto
1 can ( around 2 cups) of chicken broth
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion chopped
1 garlic clove
3/4 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1-1/2 cup hot water ( or as needed)
a handful of spinach, fresh, chopped
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup parmasean cheese , grated
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Heat oil and 1 tbsp butter in a large pan. Heat chicken broth to a simmer in another pan. Saute onions and garlic (chopped) until clear and soft in large pan with oil. Add in rice into large pan. Stir for 2 minutes. Pour in wine to the rice mixture. Stir until wine has evaporated.
2. Add hot chicken stock to rice mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Stir until the stock is incorporated into the rice. Keep repeating this step until chicken stock is gone. Move onto hot water, as much as you need to get the rice cooked and creamy. Remember to keep stirring, it will stick to the pan if you don't!
3. After around 25 minutes of stirring, it should be done. In the last 5 minutes add a handful of chopped fresh spinach. Add in a pad of butter and stir in cheese. Salt and pepper to taste.
Recipe 2: Almond Pesto
1/4 cup toasted almonds
2 cloves garlic
1.5 cups packed basil
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper
* I only have a chop and grind option on my machine hahaha
1. In a small food processor, chop almonds and garlic together. Pulse around 5 short times.
2. Add the basil, grind 5 short times. Drizzle in the olive oil.
3. Open lid add in cheese, lemon juice, salt and pepper, grind some more until combined.
Recipe 3: Suppli Al Telefono
1.5 cups leftover risotto that has been chilling in the fridge.
1/8 cup pesto
a few pieces of chicken breast, grilled, chilled, and shredded
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
oil for frying.
1. Mix the risotto with pesto and chicken until blended, divide into small patties, in the palm of your hand, indent the middle with your finger to form a pocket. Place the cheese in the pocket and close up the hole. Place on a plate until all patties are made. Refridgerate for 30 minutes
2. Place bread crumbs into a shallow dish, coat all sides of the rice patties with bread crumbs. Heat pan with as much oil as you desire... I don't like too much oil, but I want it to be crispy, so I had probably around 2 tbsp of oil ( pesto has oil so it will seep out of the patties and fry itself .. essentially). Pan-fry for 5 minutes on each side or until brown and crispy. Remove from pan onto a paper towel to saturate the oil (there will be a LOT)
...This was enough to keep me full for.... an hour haha, that's why I ended up making dessert.. up next: Arborio Rice Pudding
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