Risotto Balls with Hatch Chiles, Fresh Corn, and Queso Oaxaca

For our Austin food blogger hatch chile potluck, I made a sourdough bread with roasted hatch chiles and roasted garlic in it. Luckily, the bread turned out fine, but since it was an experiment and I wouldn’t know if it seemed ok or not until the last minute, I also had a back-up plan. The back-up plan unraveled something like this: remember that asparagus lasagna I made back in March with the cream and parmigiano sauce? Yes, what if I made that with roasted hatch chiles and fresh corn instead of asparagus and then used Mexican cheeses instead of Italian ones? It sounded like an interesting flavor combination, but do you also remember what that lasagna looked like and can you imagine how it would look after being transported to a potluck and sitting out for a while? Right, so I started thinking of ways to combine those ingredients in another format, and that’s when I found the risotto balls recipe in Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook. Fried arancini would travel much better than a lasagna with cream sauce.

I made the risotto as suggested in the book, but at the end I added about seven hatch chiles that had been roasted, peeled of the charred outer layer, seeded, and chopped. I also added fresh corn kernels cut from two small ears of corn, and a couple tablespoons of chopped cilantro. Then, instead of using grated parmigiano, I grated a dry jack cheese and stirred it into the risotto. The finished risotto was left to cool and was then refrigerated overnight. There are a few steps to completing this hors d’oeuvre, but each of them can be spaced out and tackled when you’re ready. Once the risotto had completely chilled in the refrigerator, it was ready for forming into balls. For each, one tablespoon of risotto was formed into a cup shape into which a small cube of queso oaxaca was placed. Then, the risotto was gathered around the cheese cube and rolled into a ball. Once all the balls were formed and placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet, they were refrigerated overnight. Next, the risotto balls were breaded with flour, then egg, then cornmeal. At that point, they could have been refrigerated again until ready for frying. They were briefly fried for two minutes or so in a saucepan with a few inches of hot oil.

The cornmeal made a nice crunchy surface which contrasted well with the oozing center. Sweet, fresh corn and smoky, roasted hatch chiles sidled up comfortably to the queso oaxaca. The flavor combination here was a good one, and I think the lasagna version will be just as good when I can serve it at home straight from the oven.

Risotto ai Finocchi con Ricotta e Peperoncino

I approach a Christmas Eve menu with the intention of keeping it simpler than Christmas day and keeping it mostly meatless. It also tends to be Italian, and this year I decided on a main course of risotto. When I make risotto at home, it’s always with either mushrooms or seafood, but this time I wanted to try something different. So, I asked Kurt to pick a risotto from Jamie's Italy, and he chose this fennel and dried chili variation.

The preparation begins the same as any other risotto except that Jamie includes chopped celery with the onion and garlic. Once those are sautéed together, the rice is added and stirred until translucent. Then begins the dance of adding wine and stirring and then chicken broth and stirring and then stirring more and more and so forth. I don’t mind the stirring so much when I have a nice glass of Sangiovese and some sharp provolone and asiago for refreshment, and I did have those things nearby and all was well. For this dish, there were two pans of sautéing vegetables working at once. Thinly sliced fennel and some mashed-up fennel seeds cooked while the risotto got its start. The fragrance of the fennel and fennel seed cooking together was enough to tell me this was going to be a fine meal.

When the risotto reached the half-way point, the sautéed fennel was added. At the end of the cooking time, butter and parmigiana were stirred in with lemon zest, lemon juice, and some ricotta. To serve, each plate was topped with torn, dried red chilis, fennel tops, a drizzle of olive oil, and a bit more parmigiana. The sweet fennel flavor with the hot red chilis worked nicely, and the lemon did a lovely job of perking up everything else. Kurt did well with his risotto selection, and we’ll definitely be making this one again.