Arancini Recipe
We are continuing our journey through Italy. It began with Italian Meatballs and followed with an Italian Meatball Sandwich. The meatballs were part of our dinner with our friends and the sandwich was lunch the next day. I have a number of other posts to round out this trip and the dinner we hosted but those will have to wait. This Arancini Recipe was my appetizers. I have made these Arancini balls before but it has been 3 years. This has happened to so many of us bloggers. We enjoy learning about so many different foods and want to try so many different recipes that we do not get much of a chance to repeat recipes.
I love arancinis. You don’t often see these risotto balls on Italian menus. So whenever I see them on the menu, I almost always order them. Having made them before made it super easy to make them again. In a perfect world, you need a day and a night to make these. It is so much easier to be able to make the risotto the night before. Then, you can put the risotto on a baking tray and let in get cool. Having cool risotto makes it really easy to roll the balls.
Making arancinis is just like making chicken milanese. You begin with a dredging station of flour, and egg wash and breadcrumbs. You take the risotto from the trays and roll it in your hands into a ball. Then, the risotto balls are rolled through the flour. Followed by rolling through the egg wash and finished off in the breadcrumbs. They breaded risotto balls are dropped in hot oil and cooked for a few minutes until browned. Just like my chicken milanese, they are finished off in the oven to warm and cook all the way through.
The cast of characters.
The leeks in the skillet and the spices added.
The making of the risotto beginning with the rice, then the stock and finally the cheese and butter.
The risotto on the tray cooling, and then, the balls rolled.
Dredging station, risotto balls dredged, and then, out of the oven.
The final Arancini Recipe plated.
The Recipe
Arancini Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 of a leek, the white part down to the 1/2 of the green part
- 2 1/2 cups of arborio rice
- 2 teaspoons Cumin
- 2 teaspoons Smoked Paprika
- 1 tablespoons Italian Seasonings
- 1 cup of White Cooking Wine
- 4 – 5 cups of chicken stock
- 3/4 cup of Parmesan Cheese
- 1 cup flour
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 1/2 cups of Italian Breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup of mozzarella
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a skillet.
- Add 3/4 the leek and cook until softened, about 5 minutes
- Add 2 1/2 cups of arborio rice and cook for 1 – 2 minutes
- Add ground cumin, smoked paprika and the Italian seasonings, and mix well
- Add 1 cup of white wine to the rice mixture and cook until it evaporates
- Start adding the warm stock to the rice 1 cup at a time – make sure your stove is on medium heat, it needs to be pretty warm to create the creaminess that makes risotto so good
- Finish with the last cup of stock and add the shaved parmesan and remove to a tray and allow to cool (I kept it in the fridge overnight)
- Set up a typical dredging station with flour, eggs and breadcrumbs
- Roll the risotto into balls and stuff with cubed fresh mozzarella and then take through the dredging station – flour, egg wash and then the breadcrumbs
- Place in a skillet filled with oil heated to 350 degrees.
- Fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Finish by baking for 8 – 10 minutes at 325 degrees.
Responses
comments – I answer every one.
We (and by we I mean my spouse because I have no cooking skills to speak of) love making Italian food at home. We had this last at this fancy Italian place downtown and loved it. We can’t wait to try and make it at home. Thanks for the recipe!
I did not have a lot of cooking skills when I started my blog but practice has really helped me grow.
Its so true, very rarely do the dishes that I love make it back into rotation due to making new dishes and experimenting. These babies look fantastic.
You know exactly what I am saying Sara. The only negative is that we make some things that are really good and take so long to make them again.