Odds and ends – arancini

Some of us make a risotto deliberately to turn into another dish – for arancini, aka rice balls – sounds a little odd I grant you but traditionally arancini was created to use up leftover risotto. It turns out that the arancini is equally as good as the risotto.

Here's a photo-guide, to illustrate how easy it is

Take three trays (I used foil) – measuring 23x23cms :

50g plain flour – tray 1

3 large eggs, beaten – tray 2

150g Panko crumbs – blitzed in a food processor – tray 3

You can use ordinary breadcrumbs if you can't get Panko

You'll need vegetable oil for shallow frying

Using damp hands, mould each square into a ball – make 3 at a time – place in the flour tray and jiggle, let the tray do the work. Repeat in the beaten egg and finally in the crumb. Jiggle is my own term, descriptive I think - the actual technical term is pané – meaning “breaded”. If you want to be really cheffy you can repeat the egg and crumb - “double pané” for extra crunch.

Place the arancini in the fridge for 20 minutes – use a large frying pan and cover the base in oil, heat gently – test to see it has reached temperature by dropping, gently, a small cube of bread into the oil – it should sizzle. Fry four or five at a time so you can easily turn the arancini and ensure you get an even golden brown colour – about 3-4 minutes. Set aside on a baking tray and keep warm in a pre-heated oven – 150fan/170c/Gas 3.

You don't have to make all 18 arancini – you can make 9 and freeze the remaining half of the risotto, leave in the tray, fold over and wrap tightly in foil.

Next … a couple of extra ideas