Arancini (Italian Rice Balls)
When I was first introduced to arancini, it was by a bitter Italian chef who made it sound like arancini were a trick to feed garbage to gullible customers, rather than a delicious use of leftovers. Needless to say, I was incredibly surprised when they turned out to be absolutely delicious. The idea of a deep-fried rice ball might not immediately strike you as something wonderful, but arancini is so much more than just crisped up starch that would otherwise be wasted.
The truth is that arancini is as much a “rice ball” as risotto is like Uncle Ben’s. You have to picture the creamy, buttery, cheesy wonder of a risotto Milanese amplified with a crispy crust and tomato sauce. If you were just rolling up balls of ordinary cooked rice, yes, you’d end up with a pretty heavy ball of starch, but with risotto – ah – when the heat warms up the grains of rice again and melts that cube of cheese in the middle, it just pours out onto your plate when you crack into it and becomes something so much more.
It is extremely important that the risotto be completely chilled before you start to make arancini. If the reasoning here is not clear to you, picture trying to roll a ball of risotto. You can stud arancini with everything from peas to mushrooms to shrimp to charcuterie, but they really don’t need anything else to make them more satisfying.
- 2 cups chilled risotto (recipe below)
- 2 ounces mozzarella, cut into eight cubes
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3/4 cup bread crumbs
- salt and pepper
- Preheat deep fryer to 350 degrees.
- Divide the risotto into eight 1/4 cup portions and chill again.
- Form each portion of risotto around a cube of mozzarella cheese, then roll into balls. Chill again if they start to become soft.
- Put the flour, egg and bread crumbs in individual bowls and season each with salt and pepper.
- Roll the rice balls in the flour, shake off the excess, then in the egg, shake off the excess, then in the bread crumbs. Repeat with remaining rice balls.
- Once all the arancini have been breaded, fry them in the hot oil until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes, turning often. Drain on paper or a cooling rack over a sheet pan and allow to cool and continue cooking through to melt the cheese before serving with a basic tomato sauce.
For a basic tomato sauce, simply cook a 14 ounce can of unseasoned crushed tomatoes with 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano and 1/8 teaspoon red chili flakes, adding a bit of water if it becomes too thick. Season to taste with salt and enough sugar to reduce the acidity of the canned tomatoes, without making the sauce taste sweet.
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon olive oil*
- 1 shallot, finely minced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
- salt and pepper
- Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a pot on the back burner.
- In a separate pot, heat the olive oil with the shallot and garlic over medium heat.
- Add the rice to the shallot and garlic and stir to coat with the oil, cooking for an additional minute.
- Pour the wine onto the rice and cook it until nearly absorbed into it, stirring often to prevent sticking.
- Gradually add the chicken stock, ladle by ladle, allowing each addition to absorb into the rice before adding the next. Adjust the heat as necessary so that it is not boiling. Stir the risotto while it is cooking to help the rice release its starch. You may not need all of the stock, so test the rice when it starts to look plump. It should be toothy, but not crunchy when you bite it. It will continue cooking a bit once you remove it from the heat.
- When the rice tastes just about ready, add the last ladle of stock and stir until it has nearly been absorbed. Remove from the heat, stir in the Parmesan cheese, then the cold butter and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- For arancini, spread this out on a sheet pan and refrigerate to cool. Otherwise, enjoy!
*If you made your own stock for this risotto, using the skimmed fat to sweat the shallot and garlic is a great way of bringing everything back together.