An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

by Tamar Adler

The Neapolitan street food arancini are a spectacular use of leftover risotto, which after sitting for a night becomes claylike and can be shaped around little pieces of cheese, rolled into balls, dipped in breadcrumbs, then deep fried. You can also simply shape cold risotto into little cakes and panfry them in olive oil until golden brown. Always make more rice than you need for a meal. Asian cultures make fried rice, for which rice must be a day old. What makes fried rice good is every grain getting a chance to fry individually in hot oil. I’ve tried to make fancier fried rice by cooking a pot of rice especially for frying. It was mushy and inferior. (Thank heavens for the occasional, calculable superiority of old things.) My favorite is Thai fried rice. Thai fried rice 1 tablespoon peanut oil 2 shallots, sliced into thin rounds 1 Thai bird’s-eye chile, sliced into thin rounds 2 cloves garlic, smashed once or twice 1 cup yesterday’s cooked rice salt 1/2 cup chopped cucumber, radish, or green tomato 2 cups chopped cilantro or a combination of basil, cilantro, and mint a big squeeze of lime, plus lime wedges for serving 1/2 teaspoon sugar 2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce optional: 1 fried egg per person Heat the oil in as wide a pan or wok as possible. You need enough hot surface area for every grain to fry. Once the oil has begun to smoke, add the shallots, chile, and garlic, then immediately add the rice. Spread it out over the whole surface of the pan. Salt it lightly. When ...