Arancini
are traditional Sicilian rice balls. The name comes from their shape; in fact
they look like little oranges (arance-> arancine), which are a typical
product of Sicily. These Sicilian rice balls are filled with Bolognese sauce
and cheese, and then coated in egg and breadcrumbs and fried. Outside they are
crispy and inside tasty and creamy… Just delicious.
To delight
yourself with these goodies, you can travel all the way to Sicily or you can
prepare them yourself with this recipe which comes straight from the kitchen of
a Sicilian lady. Grazie signora
Antonietta!
Arancini
Ingredients
for 10-12 arancini:
400 gr
of short grain rice
2 eggs
20 gr of
butter
50 gr of
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 bag of
saffron, 0.5 gr
salt
Ingredients
for the filling:
400 gr
of Bolognese meat sauce (made with pork ground meat, tomato sauce and olive oil)
100 gr
peas, boiled
125 gr
mozzarella cheese, diced
125 gr
cheddar cheese, diced
Ingredients
for coating:
1-2 eggs
200 gr
breadcrumbs
Ingredients
for frying:
1 l of
sunflower oil
How to
prepare:
Half
boil the rice in salted water. Then drain, put it in a large bowl and let
cooling. When it will be tepid add the eggs, the butter, the saffron and the
Parmigiano cheese. Stir well and then taste of salt, if needed add some more. Cover
the bowl with a sheet of cling film and let the rice stand at least for a
couple of hours.
In a bowl mix the Bolognese sauce with the boiled peas. In another bowl mix the two cheeses. In a plate whisk the egg and in a second plate spread the breadcrumbs.
Now put two tablespoon of rice in the palm of your hand. Spread it and then put in the middle a few dices of cheese and a tablespoon of Bolognese sauce. Then form a cup with the rice and add another tablespoon of rice on the top in order to close it. Now with your hands you should be able to shape a ball of the size of a baseball ball.
Finally, lightly coat the rice ball in the egg, then in the bread crumbs and put it on a tray. Proceed like this until you finish all the rice. Every two rice balls you will have probably to wash your hands because the rice will start to stick. When you have finished preparing the rice balls, let them stand for a couple of hours in the fridge.
In a pot heat the sunflower oil on high heat. When the oil will be hot, fry the rice balls, 3 or 4 at the same time. Fry them for around 4-5 minutes, until they will be golden; then take the rice balls from the pot and set on kitchen paper to dry from the oil. While you fry it is important that the oil will be always very hot or the rice balls will soak the oil and eventually break.
Serve
immediately and enjoy Sicily!
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