Thyme to Feast: Happy New Years

Happy New Year!

First stop was dinner at Alla's as she was doing most of the cooking but asked that everyone bring something (even though she made enought o feed a very large army) I made Pumpkin and Rosemary Arancini Balls (from Bill Grangers recipe) with a Tomato dipping sauce (from i think the ABC website) that was a complete hit!

Pumpkin and Rosemary Arancini Balls
600g pumpkin, peeled, cut into 1.5cm cubes

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to shallow-fry

Sea salt, freshly ground pepper, to taste

1.25 litres (5 cups) chicken stock

1 small brown onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tsp freshly chopped rosemary

1 tsp sea salt50g butter

330g (1 1/2 cups) arborio rice

¼ cup freshly grated parmesan100g mozzarella, cut into 25 cubes (about 5mm)

1 cup plain flour

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups dried breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 190C. Place the pumpkin on a large baking tray lined with non-stick paper, drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden. Remove and set aside.

Place the stock in a large saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat. Reduce the heat and keep at simmering point. Place a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat and add the remaining olive oil, onion, garlic, rosemary, salt and half the butter. Stir until the onion is translucent. Add the rice and stir for 1-2 minutes, or until the rice is well coated.

Gradually add all the simmering stock, a cupful at a time, stirring constantly and making sure it is absorbed before you add more. This should take 20 minutes and the rice should be al dente and creamy. Stir through the remaining butter, roasted pumpkin and parmesan. Set aside to cool.

Roasted Pumpkin Added

Remove a heaped tablespoon of the rice and, with damp hands, roll it into a ball. Place a small cube of mozzarella into the ball and reshape. Repeat the process until you've used all the cheese and all the rice mixture, then chill for 20 minutes.

Ready to be coated and fried

Place the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs in three separate shallow bowls. Roll each risotto ball in the flour, in the egg mixture and finally in the breadcrumbs to coat. Shallow-fry in olive oil until golden brown and drain on absorbent paper.

Makes 25

Semi-dried tomato dip

1 tbs olive oil1 medium brown onion, halved, coarsely chopped

1 x 340g jar semi-dried tomatoes (I used the Always Fresh brand), drained

80ml (1/3 cup) water1 tbs tomato paste

To make semi-dried tomato dip, heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until soft. Add tomatoes, water and tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until heated through and mixture thickens. Place tomato mixture in the jug of a blender and blend until almost smooth. Transfer to a serving bowl and set aside.Place the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs in three separate shallow bowls. Roll each risotto ball in the flour, in the egg mixture and finally in the breadcrumbs to coat. Shallow-fry in olive oil until golden brown and drain on absorbent paper.

We we took the Arancini Balls and Sauce along with ourselves to Allas dinner party where as I said above she cooked anough to feed an army...there was only 7 of us attending this intimate do.