The perfect vehicle for leftover risotto thats so good you might want to make batch just to whip these up. These risotto balls are fried and stuffed with spicy nduja and creamy mozzarella.
Notes
Makes 16-18 fat arancini.
You don’t have to follow the steps for the elevated stock if you’re already using high quality fresh stock. This is just an easy way to get more flavour out of the cheap stuff.
The trick to a creamy risotto is to keep stirring to massage the starch out of the rice.
You can use any flavour leftover risotto to make arancini.
You get quite a high volume out of this recipe so you might want to half this, alternatively these freeze great before frying!
Ingredients:
Elevated stock:
1.4 litres water, boiled
3 chicken stock cubes
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 stick celery, roughly chopped
1 onion, halved skin on
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
Risotto:
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
400g risotto rice
2 medium glasses of white wine
25g butter
90g parmesan, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Arancini
125g panko breadcrumbs
100g plain flour
3 eggs
150g hard mozzarella
Half a jar of nduja
Directions:
FOR THE ELEVATED STOCK:
Skip this step if you’re using fresh high quality chicken stock.
Crumble the stock cubes into the boiling water and whisk to dissolve.
In a medium saucepan, add the remaining ingredients and leave on a very gentle simmer to infuse whilst you prepare the risotto.
FOR THE RISOTTO:
In a large pan, gently fry the onion for around 5-7 minutes until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and fry for another 2 minutes or so.
Add the risotto rice and toast for around 4 minutes. Keep the grains moving so they don’t turn golden, but you should see the edges of the rice turn translucent.
Pour in the wine and keep stirring and cooking until the harsh alcohol smell has gone and the rice has absorbed the liquid.
A ladle at a time, add the stock making sure you keep stirring. Turn the heat low and stir until all the liquid has been absorbed.
Keep adding the stock one ladle at a time until the risotto is cooked. It should have a little bite. The process can take around 40 minutes. If you run out of stock you can top up with some water.
When the risotto is cooked, turn off the heat and add the butter and parm. Stir until combined and put the lid on. Leave to sit for 5 minutes.
Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as required.
Remove the lid and allow to cool completely before making the arancini.
FOR THE ARANCINI:
Using 3 separate shallow bowls prepare a breading station. Add the eggs to one, panko to another and the flour to the third bowl.