Yes, we eat leftovers.

More times than not, Victor has them for lunch, but once in a while we start getting a bit of a backlog and it’s time to go to work.

I’ve been craving the pasta dish Victor made Saturday and there was still risotto from Friday.  Throwing food away is not an option at our house.

The pasta was easy.  I heated it up just as Victor did originally.  Sauce in the pan, laid out the slices, a bit more sauce on top, cover, and into the oven.

The risotto took a bit more work.

I knew I wanted risotto cakes but they can be a pain to make.  Risotto doesn’t necessarily cooperate when one tries to form it into patties.  I used a scoop and formed the patties, dredged them in flour, dipped in egg, and then coated in bread crumbs.

True to form, they didn’t react well to the initial flour, but handled the subsequent egg-dip and bread crumbs like a pro.

I then sauteed them (“sauteed” sounds so much nicer than “fried”) in olive oil in a nice, hot skillet.  When they were done I put them into a nice hot oven to make sure they were nicely heated through.

It was just what I wanted.  I could eat that pasta seven days a week, and the risotto cakes were perfectly crunchy on the outside and perfectly creamy on the inside.

Perfect for what has been a cold, damp day.

Risotto cakes make a great side dish and really aren’t that difficult to make.  I purposely didn’t add anything to the flour or the bread crumbs.  I just wanted the crunch on the outside – I didn’t want to take away or compete with the risotto filling.

Give ’em a try next time you have some leftover risotto!