Mozzarella & caramelised onion risotto cakes

Reading recipes was once just a hobby for me but it has fast become an obsession. So much so, that I have adopted the description that one of my friends used once to describe the copious number of cookbooks she owns, “food porn”.  So I guess I should be saying, “Hi, my name is Fiona and I’m addicted to food porn.”  Soft (online versions), hard (magazines/cookbooks), all kinds really, I seriously think I might have a problem. 

So it should come as no surprise that I recently scooped up a copy of the free Spring magazine from one of our local supermarkets and read it from cover to cover.  Some of the recipes looked delicious but most were things that I had made a version of previously so nothing really excited me enough to try, except for this one thing. I have made risotto before and love the flavours, I have also made arancini (small balls of rice filled with cheese or some other delicious surprise before being deep fried).  Due to our more health conscious eating habits lately I was excited to read about the baked version of their deep fried cousin and set aside some time to give them a go.

mozzarella & caramelised onion risotto cakes (from the Coles Spring Magazine 2010.)
you’ll need to begin this recipe the day before they are required.  makes 24

My tips/alterations:  *I stirred the rice mixture a couple of times throughout the cooking process just to make sure it didn’t stick.  *I used vegetable stock as this meant they were vegetarian friendly.  *I had to cook mine for almost 30 minutes as they weren’t holding together after the allocated time and the cheese on top had not melted or browned.    

ease: 6/10.  The cooking process was simple enough but they were a little fiddly to assemble.  My mixture wouldn’t stick together enough to form a ball. 
prep time: 30mins + overnight chilling.  
cooking time: 40mins.
total: 1 hour 10mins + overnight chilling.         

taste: 7/10.  The flavour of these was lovely.  The caramelised onions were quite prominent but well balanced by the balsamic vinegar, so not too sweet.  The texture of the rice was nice to eat but the mixture did not hold together.  I tried everything to get them to work (leaving them in the pan longer to cool, putting them in the fridge to firm them up) but to no avail.  They were a little better when I chilled them after cooking but generally speaking they seemed to fall apart rather easily.

would I make it again:  Maybe.  I’d add extra cheese to see if it helped them to stick together.  If that didn’t work I’d give up and stick to the fried version.  If you have better success I’d love to hear all about how you did it.