ace of {risotto} cakes.

not really.

okay. towards the end of the cooking process, i was getting the hang of things.

but, why rush to the end when i can fill you in at the beginning?

making ina's chive risotto cakes was an interesting endeavor. interesting in that: 1. it involved hot oil and a hot cooktop, 2. my kids were more clingy than normal that day, each clutching one of my legs near said hot oil and cooktop, and 3. both kids decided that normal dinner time was not OK, but needed to be earlier because starvation was apparently imminent.

such is the state of my home at 5 p.m....EVERY DAY.

battling these somewhat daunting elements, i still made the risotto cakes and am proud to report that a. i didn't burn down the kitchen {despite filling the first floor of my house with smoke}, b. neither me or my kids were burned in the cooking process. yay. and, c. the risotto cakes weren't a *total* disaster. there were some minor issues, so let's address those.

prep was a piece of cake. i did all of that in the morning before taking my daughter to school. cooked the rice, grated the cheese, minced the chives and threw all of these ingredients {plus a few others} in a bowl. sealed the top with plastic wrap and placed the bowl in the frig so everything could get nice and cold, as the instructions advised.

fast-forward to 5 p.m. it's the witching-hour. kids are antsy. unusually hungry...this doesn't set in until closer to 6 p.m. see, keeping track of all these things helps me mentally gear myself up for what i need to do and the state in which i get it done - am i relaxed? {which makes my concentration and general flow of things} much easier? am i hyped and pressed for time? {this is killer and makes me rush a bit more than i would like}.

i was hyped.

so, i add the oil to the pan. hmmm..really? only 3 tablespoons of oil for all these risotto cakes? okay, ina.

no, not okay.

if you're making this recipe, note that this recipe makes a lot of risotto cakes...and because of that, more oil is needed. i felt that 3 tablespoons didn't cover the batch. i had to add more oil...and cooking spray...because i hate using large quantities of oil in cooking. and the rice really absorbs the oil until you get a nice, crusty, brown outside to the cake.

initially, i started with small risotto cakes, as the recipe instructs. as i found myself pressed for time {with antsy kids at hand}, i started to cheat, making the cakes bigger. not good. the bigger the cakes are, the longer the cook time...and the harder they are to flip and the easier they fall apart. so, definitely keep the risotto cakes small.


see how they're falling apart? {at this point i was annoyed with the process and myself...because the cakes in this photo were still small...i hadn't even made them big at this point...and they were still not staying together despite the length of time the mixture spent chilling in the frig).


the picture above makes me happy. because it's at the point where i got my groove in the risotto cake-making-process. the first batch i chalked up to a rookie's luck. sort of like the universal theory behind the first batch of pancakes that come out of the pan...you can tell it's the first batch...they're thinner, lighter...different. the second batch is where you really get down to cooking...and get better results. i think that's what happened here. my cakes were definitely smaller. they weren't thin and not too thick. yeah, i definitely got into a groove here.

i'd like to say that my cakes were this beautiful:


they looked more like this:


and, for the most part, i'm OK with that. i never made risotto cakes before and i'm hardly a seasoned cook in this area. i'll take it.

the kids seemed OK with the concept of cheesy rice cakes {i figured chive risotto cakes would be code for "i don't know what this is but it's mommy-speak for something i won't like anyway"} - which isn't a complete fabrication if you look at the recipe and what basically goes into a risotto cake.

my son ate about 3/4 of his and then declared he didn't like it. {a routine meal-time statement when trying something new}.

my daughter ate a few bites, then was put off by the little green chives {saying it was a "seasoning" apparently didn't reassure her it was edible}.

{and to boost my overall kitchen confidence, i made neiman marcus cookies with white chocolate chips the next day - my own little concoction}:

next up on barefoot in the kitchen: delicious jalapeno cheddar cornbread and croque monsieur sandwiches.

p.s. photos courtesy of my phone. at the end of the day, i get a little nervous with whipping out my camera with all the action i have going on in the kitchen...