MOZZARELLA STUFFED ARANCINI

Wow, what a name right? Arancini are risotto balls covered in bread crumbs and deep fried. I loved the actual concept of this recipe because I always have left over rice at home. It’s not always risotto, sometimes a good cheesy rice and this recipe works too. Let’s paint a beautiful picture. Friday night you make a gorgeous risotto for a dinner party at home and you have so much left over. Place it in your fridge and a couple of minutes before family comes for lunch on Sunday, make these babies as an appetizer. Serve the arancini balls with some tomato sauce and you have an amazing starter for the family lunch.

Now, risotto has a peculiar flavor and texture that make these balls specially good. You can make any flavor of risotto you like. That depends on what you cooked the day before or what ingredients you have at home. You can serve these with some tomato or cheese sauce for dipping. I’ll leave you some tips below to get them perfectly.

Needing risotto ideas? These delicious risotto recipes are linked below.

PARTS OF THIS STUFFED ARANCINI

Let’s begin out description with the rice. The rice in this case was a parmesan risotto I made a couple of days before. A lot of rice but mainly a lot of cheese. For the risotto, I used a combination of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and cream cheese. The cream cheese gives it an amazing texture. Since I made it a couple of days before, it was completely cold. If you are going to make the risotto just for the stuffed arancini, make sure to cool it down completely before shaping the balls. You are going to use your hands.

Inside that delicious rice ball, guess what we are going to add. If you guessed cheese you are completely right. We are stuffing that rice ball with some mozzarella cheese. The idea is that when you bite into it, you taste an explosion of flavors and textures. Finally, the crust. That mixture of bread crumbs and panko are going to give the crust a crunchy texture. I don’t want to keep describing them too much, instead let’s go to the tips and tricks to actually make them.

TIPS FOR THE PERFECT STUFFED ARANCINI

The rice: the rice used for risotto is Arborio rice. The grains are a bit bigger and absorb all that liquid you will keep adding.

Risotto: As I mentioned before, you can use a good cheesy rice to make these babies but the original is made with risotto. Make sure it is completely cooled down.

The crust: I like mixing panko and regular bread crumbs for this. It gives an interesting mixture of textures. Just like the risotto is seasoned on its own, you have to season the crumbs as well. It doesn’t need much but we do want to give it a bit of flavor. Add some salt, pepper, garlic powder and parsley.

Putting everything together: To make the stuffed arancini, you have to measure all the balls first. Measure just the rice, don’t add the filling yet. The balls don’t have to be too big but they do have to be around the same size. Once that is done, press the ball into your hand to make it flat and place the cheese in the middle. If the cheese is already sliced, cut it in half and then into small pieces. Stack the pieces of one half on top of each other and place it in the middle of the rice. Using your hands, slowly close the rice over the cheese and shape it into a ball. Then, cover in flour, then in egg mixture and finally in the bread crumbs before frying.

Frying: To make sure everything works, start by using enough oil so that the balls are almost completely covered. I recommend using a medium to small saucepan for this because you will only be frying one or two at a time. Use medium heat to heat the oil. Too much heat and the stuffed arancini cooks too fast. To know when your oil is ready, place a kebab stick in and it bubbles around it you are good to go. You can also throw some rice in. Works just as fine.

EQUIPMENT

Kitchen Scale: to weigh the ingredients and arancini balls in.

Saucepan: For frying

Strainer: or something you can use to dip and take out the arancini off the oil.

Bowls: Three bowls, one for flour, one for the egg mixture and the last one for the bread crumbs.

Dishes: to place the stuffed arancini as you make and later as you fry them.

Knife: to cut the cheese you will be using for the filling.

Yield: 16 to 20 Arancini

MOZZARELLA STUFFED ARANCINI

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Ingredients

• 1/2 recipe Parmesan risotto
• 8 to 10 slices of mozzarella cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 splash of whole milk
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup panko
• 2 tsp chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup flour
• Vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Measure the rice dividing into balls. Make sure they all weigh almost the same.
2. Stuff all the rice balls with mozzarella cheese. 1/2 slice per rice ball. Close carefully and shape into a ball.
3. add egg to a bowl and mix in Milk, salt and A bit of pepper. Add flour with a pink of salt to another bowl. Finally add panko, bread crumbs, parsley, salt, pepper and garlic powder to another bowl. Mix well.
4. carefully cover the ball of rice in flour, then the egg and finally after dripping the excess out, cover completely in bread crumbs.
5. Repeat with the rest of the atancini balls.
6. add oil to the saucepan over medium heat.
7. once hot, fry the balls one or two at a time until toasted.
8. serve warm.

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