Makes 8 medium balls / Difficulty – Medium / Prep 45 mins and fried in 5 minutes
I first discovered arancini existed whilst watching an episode of the Sicilian detective series Inspector Montelbano, and the episode was called ‘Gli arancini di Montalbano’, obviously arancini featured heavily and I had to know what these little balls of rice and ragu tasted like. It was at least a year before I managed to have one and I was not disappointed, which was amazing really as I had built them up in my head to taste of almost mythic proportions. The difficulty in making arancini is getting the rice sticky enough, yet just dry enough to hold together whilst you are shaping them.
Ingredients
250 risotto rice
1 litre of stock (chicken or vegetable)
Saffron, a large pinch
Ragu
150g mozzorella, chopped
Small tin of garden peas (I find the tinned variety taste most similar to peas I have been served in Italy)
Breadcrumbs, for dredging
Flour, for dredging
2 Eggs
Salt and pepper
50g Parmesan
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Method
- Bring the stock to boil in a saucepan and add the rice, slightly overcook and then leave to cool completely.
- To make the filling mix the ragu with the mozzarella and some garden peas.
- Once the rice has cooled and you have mixed your filling, wet your hands take some rice and make a ball. Poke a hole in the ball, fill with ragu and chopped mozzarella, then plug the hole with more rice. Repeat until all you rice is finished. I like to keep the ragu and use it as a sauce to eat with the arancini.
- Take three bowls. Add flour in one. Beat the egg with salt and pepper and add to the second. Then add the breadcrumbs in the third.
- Roll each rice ball in the flour, egg then breadcrumbs and set aside.
- Heat the vegetable oil to no hotter than 170c, add the arancini in batches and deep fry until golden brown.
Best served hot, but can be eaten cold. Try with some potato croquettes.
