This year for my upcoming weekend holiday bash, I am going with a seafood theme, offering an array of little bites of fruits of the sea from familiar clam chowder to exotic curried fish. Even though most of my friends are adventurous enough to try some of my creations, I always try to offer something people are more accustomed to, such as fry food.
What's not to like about the little Italian bar food, arancini? The name means ”little oranges” in Italian, referring to their golden color. They are sometimes called suppli al telefono (telephone wires), a play on mozzarella string when you bite into them. These rice balls get their soft and creamy filling from risotto and their crispy exterior from the breadcrumbs. For the crunchiest results, use panko breadcrumbs (Japanese breadcrumbs found in your Asian aisle).
The idea of making risotto can be intimidating, but it simply requires your patience to stand in front of the stove and stir the rice for 20 minutes. This technique produces the creamiest risotto. What I love about making arancini is that I can make the risotto ahead of time. In fact, I serve it for dinner a few days before and then using the leftover rice for the recipe.
2 cups cold basic risotto 2 ounces part-skim or whole milk mozzarella, cut into ¼ inch cubes 2 large eggs, beaten 1 ½ cups panko or dry breadcrumbs 1/3 cup all-purpose flour Vegetable oil for frying
Scoop a heaping tablespoon of cold risotto to form about an inch ball. Make an indentation in the middle, push in the mozzarella, then close and seal the rice. Roll it around to form a round ball. Repeat the process until all the rice is used up. You should end up having about 38 balls. You can assemble these two days in advance.
Put flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs in separate shallow bowls. Dip each ball in that order and transfer to waxed paper lined baking sheet.
Heat oil in a heavy saucepan or a fryer to 325 degrees, drop in a few balls, and fry until golden allover, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to a paper towel lined baking sheet. Serve immediately.
