Food So Fine (it'll blow your f-ing mind) 

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WELCOME TO THE FOODIEFIGHTS THUNDER DOME!  6 CHALLENGERS, 2 WEAPONS, POTATOES AND LEMONS, 1 WINNER!  And probably 6 very full stomachs.  I wanted to use the lemon in a couple different ways (ceviche, deep fry, aioli) and use the potato in a more traditional use.  I will break down each component of my dish:

 LEMON POTATO RISOTTO CROQUETTE

First up is making the risotto.  Since I've never made risotto, I used this recipe as a guideline:
2  pounds Yukon gold potatoes
2  tablespoons  butter or margarine
1  tablespoon  minced shallots
1  teaspoon  minced garlic
1  tablespoon  minced fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1  teaspoon  minced fresh rosemary leaves or 1/2 teaspoon chopped dried rosemary
1 1/2  cups  fat-skimmed chicken or vegetable broth
1/2  cup  whipping cream
Salt and pepper
*added 1 Lemon's lemon zest and grated parmasean

Step 1:  PREP
Chop roughly 2 lbs. (or 5 potatoes) of Yukon goodness into 1/4 inch cubes.  They say it imitates rice, but really, its just 1/4 inch cubes of potato. 

Prep rest of ingredients, including shallots, garlic, lemon zest, rosemary, and thyme.  PREP NOW.  I know risotto can be a fickle dish, requiring special attention.  One move and I might get slapped in the face because I couldn't meet my risotto's needs and feelings.

STEP 2: SAUTE + CHICKEN BROTH
Add in butter + some oil to prevent butter from burning, add in shallots and garlic, and fry for a bit, add in potatoes, rosemary, thyme, stir till semi clearish (took me about 6 minutes), and add in chicken broth, 1/2 CUP AT A TIME.  Don't add more or else you'll prpbably have mashed potatoes on your hands.  Keep stiring not letting the potatoes out of your sight until broth is reduced.

STEP 3: Add the Cream + Lemon Zest
Add in cream, grated parmasean, and lemon zest let it reduce into risotto-y goodness.  They said potatoes should be al dente, but I'm not sure if this was the case.  I don't even know what al dente potatoes would be like.  Just cook and taste and hopefully it resembles Risotto.

Step 4: Chill and making risotto balls
For Croquettes, you need the following ingredients:
Chopped up Mozzarella
Panko
Egg + Flour to cover

Make balls out of the chilled risotto and fill each ball with a little mozzarella goodness.  Then cover with a bit of flour, then egg, then cover in panko.  Be generous w/ panko!  There's a reason Wendy's uses panko to cover their delicious Alaskan Cod sandwich (that commerical will always be stuck in my head).

Step 5: Shake (fry) and Bake!
Fry those panko covered goodies up until nice and golden on each side (panko fries up FAST) and stick em in the oven at 375 degrees.  Your final product should look something like this (see picture below):

SHRMP CEVICHE

Another dish I've never made, but used this as a guideline (under Shrimp Ceviche):
2 pounds of shrimp
approximately 10 lemons
1 hot pepper
1 chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
*added some avacado + chopped up bacon

Step 1: Cook Shrimp, prep ingredients
Clean and cook shrimp for 5 minutes in hot boiling water, while that's boiling, chop up a red onion, tomatoes, and avacado.
Step 2: Combine everything and chill
Combine shrimp, onions, tomatoes, lemon juice (enough to cover ingredients), chill for an hour.  Add avacados and cooked bacon when plating up.  It's that simple!

Lemon aioli

Again, never made Lemon Aioli, used this as a guideline :
4 egg yolks, at room temperature
2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 to 4 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Salt and Pepper
*added wheat bread in my depesration to make aioli thicker

Step 1: Blend and Drip
Blend all ingredients BUT the olive oil till frothy, then slowly drip in olive oil (I don't think I did this right, which resulted in more of a soup then sauce)
Step 2: Chill
Chill and pray that it thickens (at least thats what I did).

Deep Fried Potato Lemons

As a garnish, I'd thought I would deep fry some lemons in freeze dries Idaho potatoes (or whatever was in that Idaho Spuds box). 
Lemons
Egg
Flour
Idaho Spud Mashed Potato Mix

Step 1: Cover them Lemons
Cover lemons with flour, then egg, then a nice portion of freeze dried mashed potatoes

Step 2: FRY!
Fry it up!  You can eat them as well, but I advise you slice it and eat it with the croquettes since it's a freaking deep fried lemon; it's not gonna taste like candy.

PLATE AND EAT!!

WHAT DID IT TASTE LIKE??
LEMPOTATY!  The creaminess and subtle flavor of the lemon zest in the croquette matched really well with the garlic + lemon taste of the aioli...think lemony creamy mashed cheesy potatoes. 

The softer texture of the risotto croquettes matched well with the crunchiness of the ceviche, where really the lemon flavor took hold.  It added a freshness, a sort of warm vs. cold, and cut through some of the creamy taste that  accentuated rather then over power the croquette.  The avacado and bacon added a nice depth of flavor as well. 

As for the deep fried lemons, they tasted like french fries that were doused in lemons...which is to say REALLY REALLY strong.  However, it went well ok with the heaviness of the croquette.  Still, I made the deep fried potato lemon more as a symbolic image of the love the lemon and potato made through out this dinner course.  NOW FEAST ON THE FOOD PORN BELOW!

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