Arancini, as promised!

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I was taught how to make these out in Sicily last week where I was cooking on a culinary tour with Aeolian Adventures. The chef there in Catania said that these rice balls were known as Arancino in Catania whereas in they were called Arancina in Palermo. In Palermo they are round shaped to mimic the orange and in Catania they are conical shaped to mirror the neighbouring and mighty Mount Etna.

Don’t get me wrong, I have made many, many arancini over my years of cheffing and also have some recipes in various cookbooks of mine. However, in life, just as in cookery, every single day is a school day and it wasn't until last week that I was taught the batter trick to coat the rice balls, so much more efficient and effective than beaten egg, cheaper too, and that a ragu rich in cinnamon and star anise made the most sublime filling for arancini / arancino. Here to also note that using a bechamel in the centre is better than cheese, the mix melting obligingly to create optimum ooze to your fried balls of rice.

I also added a pinch of saffron to my rice as it boiled, I’ll leave this up to you.

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INGREDIENTS

For the Ragu

Any excess ragu can be frozen for another use.

500g beef or pork mince, or mixture of the two

2 onions, finely diced

2 carrots, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 tbsp olive oil

250ml red wine, or use stock or water

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 bay leaves

Big pinch of dried oregano

1 cinnamon stick

4 whole star anise

Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

For the Béchamel

Any excess béchamel can be frozen for another use.

75g butter

75g plain flour

600ml whole milk, warm

Big pinch of nutmeg

60g finely grated parmesan

For the Rice

250g risotto rice

550g water

1 tsp salt

20g butter

For the Arancini (arancino)

Ragu

Bechamel

Cooked rice

Lots of fresh breadcrumbs

Plain flour, about 50g

Neutral frying oil, sunflower or vegetable

Parmesan, to grate

Lemon wedges

METHOD

Ragu

1. In a heavy based saucepan, add 3tbsp olive oil, onions and carrots and sweat over a medium heat for at least 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Turn up the heat, add another tbsp of olive oil and add the mince, fry off for 3 – 5 minutes, to brown off in places, and for any liquids to evaporate.

2. Add the tomato puree, red wine, cinnamon, star anise, bay leaves and oregano and season well with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

3. Bring the pan up to boiling point, put a lid on and cook over a low – moderate heat, or in the oven at 180C for at least 45 – 50 minutes, until the ragu is rich and thickened and tastes great! Remove from the heat, stir through with the parsley and cool.

Bechamel

1. In a pan over a moderate heat, melt the butter, add the flour and use a wooden spoon to beat the two together, until the mix begins to foam and turn white at the edges, use a whisk and whisk in the warm milk, bit by bit to begin with, then in a steady stream, whisking all the while.

2. Cook over a moderate – low heat for around 10 minutes, until smooth and thickened. Remove from the heat and cool, overnight is ideal, for the mix to really firm up in the fridge.

Rice

1. Put the rice in a pan of boiling salted water together with the butter, bring back to the boil, put a lid on the pan, reduce the heat to moderate and cook until all the water is absorbed and the rice is tender.

2. Remove from the heat and spread the cooked rice out on a tray to cool down as quickly as possible. Refrigerate when cool until ready to use.

Arancini / Arancino

NOTE: any used excess oil can be cooled and then put through a fine meshed sieve and used up to x3 times again.

1. With wet hands to prevent the rice sticking, take handfuls of the cooked cold risotto rice. Shape into a ball, then using to two hands, flatten the ball against the palm of your hand to make a flat round shape.

2. Use a teaspoon and add a spoon of ragu and a spoonful of bechamel to the middle of the round.

3. Using your two hands, and again, wet hands will help here, shape the round back into a ball shape, keeping the filling in the centre and sealing the sides, compacting the ball into a smooth, compact arancini. Place on a plate and continue shaping the remaining arancini.

4. In a bowl, mix some flour and water together until you have a batter that is the consistency of double cream. You’ll need enough of this batter to coat all of your arancini. If you put a spoon in the batter and drag your fingertip against the back of the spoon, you should leave a line on the spoon, this is the right consistency.

5. Drop each arancini in the bowl of batter, when fully coated in the batter, carefully place each arancini in the bowl of breadcrumbs, gently moving the arancini through the breadcrumbs to fully coat.

6. In a deep sided saucepan filled no more than 1/3 full of oil, heat the oil until you reach a temperature of 170 – 180C degrees. Very carefully lower the arancini into the very hot oil and fry until crisp and golden brown. Work in batches, maintaining the frying temperature. Now, depending on how big your arancini are, you can pop them through a hot oven at 180C to fully heat through, smaller arancini will heat through sufficiently in the very hot oil. My arancini were enormous, I fried mine for around 3 – 4 mins in the hot oil and popped them through the hot oven for a further 10 – 12 minutes to fully heat through and for the béchamel to ooze.

7. To serve, put the arancini on a serving plate, grate over with plenty of extra parmesan and serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over.

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