When I was going to school and packin’ a lunch, us finicky suburban kids would get sick & tired of the same old lunch. Ham & cheese again? Egg salad? Corned beef? Greek keftedes sandwich? Not again!!!!!!!!
Eventually, the guys would all bemoan the same thing but we had to cope. We began exchanging lunches.
“What’s in your bag”, I asked the Italian. “Prosciutto again”, he replied. “I’ll trade ya for my Black Forest Ham”. You get the picture, Toronto is diverse and those lunch exchanges were my first introduction to new foods.
One other lunch I traded for was Arancina. A fried rice-ball specialty from Siciliy. I fell in love with these just by looking at the oozing Mozzarella!
This is a Sicilian recipe for left-over rice. I like “waste-not, want-not” cultures. If you don’t have any left over rice, make a fresh batch and whip up some tomato-basil sauce or play with your own filing.
Arancina
500 gr/1lb leftover risotto or regular rice
Some Marinara sauce
1 cube of Mozzarella for each rice ball
Grated parmesan or romano
1 egg beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
vegetable oil for frying
1) Take your leftover rice and mix in the tomato sauce and a generous amount of grated parmesan or romano. If the mixture is too loose, add some bread crumbs and mix until you can form a firm rice ball.
2) Using your thumb, press 1 cube of mozzarella into each ball, then reform the ball with your hands.
3) Get your oil heated. Roll each rice ball into the beaten egg and then coat throughly with the breadcrumbs.
4) As always, make sure your oil is hot enough for frying. Carefully place your rice balls (don’t crowd them) in the oil and fry for 2-3 minutes per side. A spider comes in real handy here for flipping and scooping out. They should be a golden brown.
5) Place your rice balls on a paper-toweled plate and serve hot.
These look delicious! I had arancina once years ago and I’ve never forgotten how wonderful they were.
Sara, I think I’ll reheat one for lunch today!
These look so good, they have been on my list to make forever, I always make extra risotto when I make it because there are so many good leftover ways to eat it. But you make it look easy!
Katerina, not bad for a “one trick Greek pony”? lol
I will surely use Risotto next time, better starch for binding.
These are definitely popular fast food here in Sicily! The traditional one has ragu (meat sauce with peas)inside as well as cheese. But there are also plain cheese ones, ham and cheese as well as others. But here they are called ‘Arancino’ or plural ‘Arancini.’ You’ll find them in just about every little bar around :-)
These look great! I wish I had Italian friends too.
Burcu, start making some Italian friends…the food exchange would be awesome!
I just learned about Arancina when I saw it in a magazine a the other week. I have just been waiting for a chance to make it. It reminds me of of Japanese onigiri.
Again, amazing! This is another dish that my Italian flatmate made. I was very surprised to see her frying rice (being Chinese and all). I have previous experience of my bf adding cheese to his rice so that was not so shocking … this was an interesting dish, but like fish, I would not want to spoil rice by deep frying it!
Sharlene, this is a Sicilian dish…often made with leftover rice…better to fry it than throw it out!
Agreed, but I’d sooner make fried rice :) Just my own preference