Xan and Catherine: Pasta Carbonara with risotto meatballs

T E R R I _ _ _

How you finish this word probably says a lot about your attitude.  Indeed, depending on your attitude toward healthiness, you are guaranteed to either think today's idea is terrific or terrible.

First, a little culinary math lesson.  Pasta carbonara, on its own, is already awesome.  Risotto, on its own, is already awesome.  It turns out that awesomeness is not necessarily additive; mix these two together, and you'll end up with a mess that's considerably less awesome than either of the parts alone. No, if you want to amp up the awesomeness, you need a way of adding them together without actually mixing them.  The solution is to encase the risotto in a protective shell of deep-friedness.  I give you Pasta Carbonara with Risotto Meatballs:

Putting leftover risotto to good use!

Catherine also likes to encase blocks of cheese in the risotto.

T E R R I _ _ _!