Sunday 17 August 2008

A Sicilian snack



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:

Toby Worthington said...

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,

Sir Fopling Flutter said...

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.