Fennel risotto = nice arancini

I like making risottos that focus on the merit of a single vegetable. In fact I very rarely add meat or seafood to a risotto, as seems to be pretty common in all the barely Italian restaurants I've been to.

The other night I made one with a lovely but smallish fennel that I had which included a lot of stalk and greenery (I don't know why when you buy then from the supermarkets this bit is cut off). The whole thing was about 2 feet long!

I put everything in, including the lovely dill-like fronds, but saved a small amount of the white bulb which I shredded and pickled for about 30 mins in water, vinegar and salt and served alongside for a little contrast.

I used water rather than stock for the liquid, because fennel is easily suppressed, but I did add a pinch of some 'bay seasoning' Nick got me from Baltimore. It's basically celery salt and paprika. A tiny quantity of lemon zest is also a nice addition.

It was good! What was even better though was the arancini I made with the leftovers. I can only make small ones since I don't have a deep fryer, but I think I prefer them this way, shallow fried. I had them with soured cream which was perfick. Is that fusion?