Risotto, Part 2: Arancini (Fried Risotto Balls)

For my international pot luck a little while back, I decided to advance my risotto-making to the intermediate level.  I saw a recipe in my latest splurge, Andrew Carmellini's Urban Italian, that outlined the process for arancini, stuffed deep fried risotto balls.  Now, I'm a Minnesotan.  We are known for our "Minnesota Nice" demeanor, ten thousand lakes, and having one of the greatest state fairs of all time. Besides being one of the largest fairs in the country, and home to 2,000 pound pigs that my dad drags me to year after year, the State Fair is also known for its abundance of food that has been stuck on to a stick and deep fried.  Man, I love things that are stuffed with cheese and deep fried.  Or just cheese deep fried.  Brings me back home with every bite.

So when I saw the recipe for arancini, I knew immediately I had to try it.  I whipped up a batch of basic risotto the night before, spread it out on a cookie sheet, per Urban Italian's instruction (note: don't put wax paper down on the cookie sheet first - it gets too soggy and sticks to the rice when you're working it the next day), and went to bed with the same excitement as a kid ready for the fair.

Here's what you're gonna need for your arancini: Risotto, filling (cheese, braised meat chunks, sun dried tomatoes would probably be tasty...have fun with it), flour, eggs, bread crumbs, and plenty of frying oil. 

I started assembling the arancini the next morning.  Now, Carmellini says to work the risotto into little balls, make a well with your thumb, and place the risotto "cups" back on the sheet, then fill each one at the end.  When I tried this, the risotto just fell apart.  So I worked the risotto in my hands and filled them along the way.  Much easier.

It's a messy process, no doubt, and I'm not quite sure how to explain what I did. I can only equate it to making tortillas by hand: grab enough risotto to just fill your palm, roll it/squish it into a ball, and play patty cake till its a small disc.  Then put the filling in the middle (I used fresh mozzarella), wrap up the sides, and shape it back to a ball. 

After I worked all my risotto into the balls, I prepared an egg wash, flour, and bread crumbs.  I used four eggs and maybe a 1/4 cup water, and Italian bread crumbs (which, incidentally, have become one of my favorite pantry staples.)  I heated up canola oil (about 3 inches deep in my pot), and starting preparing the arancini.

It's a pretty easy process to bread them all.  First roll the arancini in a little flour, then drop it in the egg wash (make sure it gets drenched entirely), and finally cover them completely with bread crumbs.  Drop them in the hot oil (they should sizzle - that's how you know it's ready) and cook them till the become a deep golden brown, 3-5 minutes.  Urban Italian's recipe said to place the fried arancini in a 200-degree over for about 10 minutes - I'm not sure why, but that's what I did.  Seemed to work out.

I tried one of the arancini straight out of the fryer, and gosh darnit, it was tasty.  But it was missing something. The mozzarella didn't bring enough flavor, and I wanted a bit of kick. So, I marched off to the grocery store to get ingredients for a sauce. I ended up with a spicy roasted red-tomato sauce, and the perfect potluck appetizer. 

Red Pepper-Tomato Dipping Sauce

1 red pepper, halved and seeded

3 roma tomatoes, halved

1 small onion, quartered

3-4 cloves garlic

Olive oil

Pinch of Salt

Red pepper flakes

Cayenne pepper

Tomato paste (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss the red pepper, tomatoes, onion, and garlic with a healthy dose of olive oil and a bit of salt.  Roast until brown - approaching black - turning a few times along the way. 

2) Once nicely browned, puree in food processor with a generous sprinkling of red pepper flakes and cayenne (depending on how much kick you want) until your liking of chunkiness. 

3)  Take a taste of the sauce and add salt as necessary.  I also found that I wanted a bit more richness to my sauce, so I added about a tablespoon of tomato paste.  Serve with warm arancini.