Arancini

Cohort 22 trainees Charles and Z show off some freshly made arancini.

Arancini

Looking for a delightful culinary project? Cohort 22 had a blast learning the simple yet satisfying sequence: Flour ➡️ Egg ➡️ Bread Crumb (easy to remember FEB like the month!) to create these tasty treats, perfectly paired with homemade pesto sauce and spicy tomato sauce! 🍅
And guess what? You probably have all the ingredients on hand! Rice, chicken stock, white wine, onion, garlic, flour, egg, bread crumbs – it's that simple!

Recipe yield: 12-24 dumplings

Tools: medium saucepan, 3 small mixing bowls, sheet pan, whisk, rubber spatula, slotted spoon or basket scoop, measuring cups and spoons, large pot for frying

Ingredients:

Basic risotto

  • 1 cup Arborio rice

  • 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock

  • 1 cup white wine

  • 2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

  • 1 Onion, minced

  • 1 Tbsp garlic, minced

  • 2 tsp Kosher salt

Standard breading

  • Flour

  • Egg wash

  • Bread crumbs

Neutral oil for frying

Method of Preparation:

Mise en place: read your recipe, gather all ingredients and tools, and turn on equipment as needed.

First, make risotto: 

  1. In a small pan sweat onions and garlic in olive oil. When onions are translucent, add rice and toast in pan for 2-3 minutes. Deglaze pan with white wine and bring to a boil. Add salt.

  2. Reduce liquid until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Add stock 1 cup at a time, reducing until the mixture thickens each time, stirring constantly. 

  3. When rice has fully absorbed all of the liquid, taste for texture. Cool on a sheet tray in the refrigerator or freezer.

While rice is cooling, set up dredging station:

  1. Dry bowl (flour and salt)

  2. Wet bowl (egg wash)

  3. Dry bowl (bread crumbs)

When cool, scoop risotto into balls. Dredge in flour, egg wash, then bread crumbs. 

In a large pot, heat oil (enough to cover arancini) to 350. Fry arancini until an internal temp of 165 is achieved and they are golden brown. Remove to rack to cool.

Serve warm with pesto, tomato marinara, or your favorite sauce.

Faith Emerson