Arancine

• 30 minutes to prepare • 1 hour 20 minutes to cook • 1 hour to rest • Serves 4

Arancine

 

A brilliant idea: fragrant rice with saffron and tender peas, with many meat little peaces, manipulated so as to make a ball as big as an orange. Then, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried , so that the result is superb.
Do you know what I am taking about, don't you?

Sicilian Meat Rice Balls (so called arancine in Palermo, and generally in western Sicily) are tasty appetizers round in shape. In eastern Sicily they have a stretched shape and they are called arancini.
Anyway - regardless of the shape, the name or the many variations each part of the island offers -, these blonde and unique delicacies, are one of the most representative and worth to taste thinks of Sicily.

Traditionally the arancina, is prepared on December 13th for the day of Saint Lucia.
My mother was inspired to prepare them last Sunday, tough...so I have decided to exploit the situation to share with you her amazing recipe.

Buon appetito!

Here are ingredients for a 4-serving recipe (8 arancine):

 

500 g Carnaroli rice
60 g butter
1.5 sachet saffron powder
110 g grated Parmesan cheese
200 g tomato passata
100 g ground beef meat
half onion
150 g frozen peas
1 glass red wine
2 eggs whites
1 l seed oil
100 g flour 00
breadcrumbs
EVO oil
salt

1. Prepare the ragù sauce: chop the onion, heat 4 tablespoons of EVO oil in the bottom of a pan and fry the chopped onion until soft. Add the ground meat and allow to cook until the meat becomes golden. Add the wine and let it evaporate
2. Add the tomato passata and allow to simmer until the meat and sauce are unified (about 1 hour). Stir occasionally and add salt during the last 5 minutes of cooking
3. Meanwhile, boil the rice and drain it al dente. Place it in a large bowl
4. Add butter, Parmesan cheese, and saffron powder and stir to mix. Let the rice to rest for at least 1 hour
5. Boil frozen peas in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain them in a colander and keep aside
6. When the ragù sauce is ready, add peas to it and stir to mix
7. Distribute the rice over a large plate, pressing it until obtaining a layer about 3 cm thick. Let it cool down for 10 minutes (I placed it in the fridge to accelerate the process)
8. Beat egg whites in a small bowl until stiff for about 5 minutes. Keep aside
9. Prepare pastella: place the flour in a small bowl, add 75 ml of water and stir well until the liquid is smooth and creamy, without any lumps from the flour
10. Prepare arancine: take a small handful of the rice and place in your palm creating an indentation in the center. Place 1 spoon of ragú in the center, and wrap the rice around it creating a round shape. Continue to use up all the rice in the same manner making more arancine, placing the finished ones on a baking sheet
11. Take each rice ball and first dip it into the egg white, then roll it in breadcrumbs
12. Finally, place each arancina into the pastella, then roll it in breadcrumbs again and press it well
13. Heat the seed oil in a heavy saucepan to 180°C
14. Deep fry 2 arancine at a time until crisp and golden brown (about 3 minutes). Then, use a slotted spoon to remove from the oil, and place on a tray covered in paper towels...serve super hot!

Nutrition Facts are detailed in the table below. Data is provided per serving.

"Gesù, gli arancini di Adelina! Li aveva assaggiati solo una volta: un ricordo che sicuramente gli era trasùto nel Dna, nel patrimonio genetico.
Adelina ci metteva due jornate sane sane a pripararli. Ne sapeva, a memoria, la ricetta." *
(Gli arancini di Montalbano, Andrea Camilleri

* "Oh my God, the arancine of Adelina! He tasted them just once: a memory which got into his system, into his DNA. Adelina was used to spend two whole days to prepare arancine. She knew the recipe by heart."