The Man of Mode whipped up a large batch of risotto for lunch today, with some fresh peas found at the grocers.
There was plenty of rice left over, so I decided to try making arancini. This is street food, Sicilian style: balls of rice, usually with a savory filling, then rolled in breadcrumbs and fried. Arancini means "little oranges", and the finished product is a similar size and shape (and colour) to the fruit.
The last time I had arancini was in a down-at-heel cafe in Catania, after a slow journey from Palermo. They're a great snack.
The most common fillings in Sicily are meat (arancino con ragu) and mozzarella. I used a bit of taleggio cheese, which was left over in my fridge from another meal, and which worked nicely.
I improvised a recipe, but if you want to follow instructions, there's a decent looking recipe on the Waitrose website.
2 comments:
Nice alternative to the business of leftover risotto.
But must they be deep-fried? I recall bite-sized versions of this recipe served at a cocktail party (topped with a dollop of pesto)...though now that I think of it the air did reek of cooking oil,
You can pan fry them, but you need to be extremely careful to avoid the rice balls breaking apart. A quick dunk in a deep fat fryer is the best way to keep them together - although it's not so practical for cooking at home.
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