Il Riso di Giovedi’ Sera (Thursday Night Rice)

Take your leftover macaroni and add to it the leftover risotto. Mix together with a spoon. Into your saute pan, add your butter and heat over high heat. When the pan is hot, add about a 3/4 cup of the risotto/macaroni mixture. Press mixture down with your spatula until it forms a disk. You’ll want it to be about 1/2″ thick. Cook over medium-high heat until a nice crust develops on the bottom. When the crust forms, flip the risotto mixture and cook through until nice and golden brown on both sides. This will take approximately 4-5 minutes on each side. Flip only once!

Set aside to cool and continue cooking the remainder of your rice (adding more butter to pan if necessary). While the risotto is cooking, cook your pancetta slices (or bacon) in a pan until crispy. Prior to serving, place a piece of pancetta on top of your risotto cake. (That is, unless you’ve eaten all of it before the risotto is ready to be served, hence why there’s no pancetta on my pics. LOL!)

Buon appetito!