Italian at Heart

Passport & Plate - Arancini

USA | Monday, February 17, 2014 | 4 photos

Ingredients
1 lb long grain white rice
20 oz percorino romano grated cheese
1 ½ tablespoons pepper
1 small onion
1 lb chopped meat
1 6 oz can tomato paste
olive oil for sauté
5 eggs
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
canola oil for fry

 

How to prepare this recipe
Rice
Cook 1 lb of rice according to box instructions. Chill in fridge overnight or until cold. Add 1 ½ tablespoons of pepper and 20 oz percorino romano cheese to cold rice and mix well.
Meat mixture
Chop 1 small onion and sauté in olive oil until golden. Add chopped meat and cook until browned. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add tomato paste and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Beat eggs in a dish and place bread crumbs in a second dish. Dip hands in cold water and take a scoop of rice and flatten in hand. Add a teaspoon of the meat mixture to the flattened rice in hand. Dip other hand in cold water and take another scoop of rice to form a ball. Dip the ball in egg and then bread crumbs. Deep fry rice balls in canola oil until brown. Yield 24 rice balls.

 

The story behind this recipe
I love arancini, but I love most, my grandmother’s arancini! I have tasted rice balls in both Italy and the U.S. but nothing compares to my grandmother’s winning recipe. This recipe was handed down by my grandmother’s Sicilian parents and is a Christmas tradition in my family.
Making these special arancini is a 2 day process for us and we gather together for the preparation. We always have Christmas music playing and lots of laughs as we make the rice balls. The first day consists of preparing the rice and meat mixture whereas the second day, aka the fun day, we form the balls and fry them. Due to the large volume that we make, we prepare them a day or two in advance and then reheat them when we put them out for the holiday. However, the arancini tastes best when eaten immediately after being fried. We always have to take this into consideration for our rice ball count because anyone who crosses the kitchen while we are frying the arancini, always demands a ball or two.
Now that my grandmother has passed on, my mother and I continue to make arancini for the family. We always smile when we think of her singing and dancing to Christmas music as she was frying the rice balls.