Last night was a busy one, so you won’t find step-by-step photos on this post, but it was too easy and delicious not to share.  Night before last, we had an amazing dinner of Yellow-Eye Snapper over Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto with Lemon Beurre Blanc.  However, my SD card decided to eat up all the photos.  So… no blog post.  Sad.  Knowing we had a busy week ahead of us, I made EXTRA risotto with anticipation of turning it into a very easy meal later in the week.  I hate wasting food.  Don’t do it.  You paid for it, you made it… use it!  Last night, I used it and it was just as amazing as I expected.

Risotto Cakes

• 3 cups leftover risotto
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup finely shredded cheese (Fontina, Romano, Gruyere, anything works!)

Combine the cold leftover risotto with the eggs, breadcrumbs (I actually didn’t have any breadcrumbs so I crushed up some crackers), and cheese.  I used pepper jack because it is what we had in the fridge but you can literally use anything.  My risotto did not originally have any cheese in it so I used 1/2 cup.  If you added cheese to your risotto when you first made it, you may want to scale it back a bit.  Form it into patties.  I made six.  You could make them smaller for appetizers.  Refrigerate them until you are ready to go.  Sauté over medium heat with a little olive oil until crispy, browned, and hot all the way through.

I topped these with crumbled feta cheese and a little balsamic glaze.  These are so versatile that you can pretty much finish them off with anything.  Garlic Aioli, mushrooms, or goat cheese are all great topping options.  They would also be fantastic on a little bed of arugula or over any salad.

I served these alongside a handful of sautéed shrimp.  I used a 31/40 Peeled & Deveined Farm-Raised Shrimp.  I marinated them in a little white wine, lemon juice, and Italian seasoning.  Cooked them just for a minute over high heat until just pink, opaque, and curled.

Sometimes the simplest meals are the best!