The other day I made risotto cakes and raw zucchini salad for dinner.
Raw zucchini salad? Let me explain. I’ve never been a raw zucchini person, but I’ve been using my mandolin to slice matchstick-sized pieces of zucchini for my 15-month-old daughter. While I was slicing away, she asked if she could have some (and by ask I mean, yelled something like “da” “da” and gesticulated wildly). I told her it was raw, but handed her a very thin piece. She ate it and seemed happy to have successfully communicated and received the item that she desired.
That night as I was making a salad, I threw in some of the raw zucchini just to add a little variety. I couldn’t really taste it in there, but I tried a few of the sticks by themselves and discovered that they had absorbed the salad dressing and were very good.
So I decided to make a salad out of just raw zucchini and dressing, after all it’s that time of year when we have an abundance of over-grown zucchini piling up on our counters and continuing to get still more overgrown in the garden. To dress it I added salt, pepper, extra-virgin olive oil, and red wine vinegar. So good. I think I’ll do one with the addition of chiffonadded basil next time.
The risotto cakes were made from the leftover herb and vegetable risotto from the night before. Personally, I think risotto is missing something without the parmesan, but fry some risotto cakes in oil and they shine all by themselves. No pun intended.
I recommend oiling your hands before starting to make the patties, because the rice is very sticky by the next day. You will probably need to reapply it as you go.
Fry risotto cakes in a hot, cast-iron skillet with a thin layer of olive oil.
I have every intention of creating a risotto post complete with step-by-step photos one of these days, but we’ll see what time will allow.
Rebecca's Eats 