Suppli al Telefono

2Amy's here in DC has these on their menu and they're really good. Deep fried balls of risotto with a piece of mozzarella tucked inside. Frying them gives the croquettes a crisp outer shell that you crack open to get at the creamy insides. I'm not an at-home deep fryer but after seeing a baked version on another food blog I decided to try that. Also, I spent pretty much the whole time these were baking trying to figure out a way to photograph a smell. It was probably the chicken stock and onion in the risotto that made the kitchen smell really good.

The idea here is to make a bunch of risotto (arborio rice), let it cool, throw in some bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and an egg. Scoop up a bunch of the mix and tuck a cube of mozzarella into the middle. Put all the formed balls on a plate and chill them in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. Then roll the balls in bread crumbs (seasoned with S&P) and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes, turning half way through.

I followed the directions on the risotto for preparing it, which called for sauteeing 1/4 cup of chopped onions before adding the rice and using chicken stock for the liquid. My finished product tasted a lot more flavorful than 2Amy's and this might be the difference. They probably prepare the risotto differently (no onion, etc).

At 2Amy's they don't give you marinara sauce, but that's really the perfect condiment for these. Maybe they don't want them to come off as cheese sticks, but these are so much more than that.

One other trick, for the mozzarella I actually just cut up a couple of sticks of string cheese.











Final verdict- these are great and all, but it was a lot to clean up for a version that when all is said and done can't live up to the fried version at 2Amy's. Also I froze most of them and I have no idea if they'll be any good later. I'll throw a couple in the toaster oven and try to bring them back to life.