[Sca-cooks] Arancini, deep-fried Sicilian goodness.

[Christiane]

Apparently this is a traditional Sicilian street food. Arabs introduced the combination of rice and saffron. Even better, I didn't have to translate this one:

Ingredients
500gr of rice,  100gr butter,  100gr parmesan cheese,  nutmeg, saffron, parsley,  meat stock,  1 chopped onion,  100gr chopped ham,  100gr peas,  1 glass white wine,  flour,  1 beaten egg,  grated bread,  olive oil for frying,  salt and pepper.   

              

Making it



Prepare a risotto with the stock, butter, nutmeg, saffron, and grated parmesan cheese. Cook until 'al dente' and let cool.  

 In another pan add the onions, ham, peas, salt and pepper to taste, wine, touch of flour and water. Cook on a moderate heat until the mixture is dense. Allow to cool.  

 Take the risotto and form an orange sized ball in the hand. Make a little hole with the finger and fill it with the meat and pea sauce. Close the rice over the hole. Roll the ball in the flour, the beaten egg, then grated bread.  

 In a pan of boiling olive oil drop the ball carefully to fry. Remove when it is a golden color and crispy. Dry off the oil and eat immediately.   


In America, ground beef has been used as an acceptable and tasty substitute, but the ham-pea combination feels more "period" to me.

"Arancini" means "oranges," by the way, a very descriptive name for the color the saffron and the frying gives the rice.

Gianotta