**Full Disclosure: I received the cookbook for review purposes. There is an affiliate link in this post, but no other compensation was received. All opinions are mine.
I am always excited to get new cookbooks because it allows me to add something new to our menu. When I received the Piccolo Chef Cookbook, I immediately thumbed through to see which healthy recipes my kids would enjoy. I was a little disappointed when I didn’t see something that fit their palates right away.
After looking through the Piccolo Chef Cookbook a second time (with the boys), we decided to make Farro Arancini with Parmigiano and Mozzarella. I don’t deep fry anything, though, so we baked them instead.
It took over an hour longer than it should have for me to cook the risotto. I am sure that’s my fault, but it still annoyed me. James & Colin lost interest in helping after about 30 minutes. I finished cooking the risotto, let it sit for an hour and then I was able to talk the boys into helping with the ball-rolling part. James tried to roll them into balls, but they just would not stick. We finally make a pile of risotto, added the mozzarella and put a little more risotto on top. It was interesting. We baked the Farro Arancini at 350° for about 11 minutes.
James and Colin didn’t love them, but we used a sun-dried tomato risotto so that could be why. I thought they turned out pretty well and they would make a tasty lunch.
I definitely want to try another recipe from the Piccolo Chef Cookbook but I’ll let my kiddos decide which one to make next!
Have you ever made risotto balls?
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I hate when the recipes don’t work out for me! Risotto has always been kind of unpredictable for me too! At least you liked it! LOL
Shaun lost interest too. Risotto is a long process, I’m surprised I was able to keep Shae in the kitchen as long as I did.
Maybe coating them in breadcrumbs and freezing for an hour before hand would help keep their shape, thats how we make our mozzarella sticks.
I decided to skip the breadcrumbs and freezing because the rest of the process took SO much longer than I thought it would. I was surprised that the flour-egg mixture didn’t hold them together, though.
I love cookbooks for kids, and I actually still have my very first kids cookbook from my childhood.
They look really good. Maybe we’ll give them a try.
These sound YUMMY. I love any food that comes in ball form. 🙂