How to cook Arancini
Pat Keenan visited the Southern Sicilian province of Ragusa
and tried his hand at cooking a local delicacy
Italian (and Sicilian) crime fiction writer Andrea Camilleri, in one of his celebrated Inspector Montelbano books, has our hero debate whether to leave Sicily and be with his girlfriend in Paris, or stay and eat his housekeeper Adelina’s arancini. Arancini is a famous Sicilian fried rice ball. I won’t give away what he decides, you might want to wait for the English translation of Gli Arancini di Montalbano, or maybe you would like to guess.
What I will give you, is the recipe. I recently cooked one at Nosco, School of Mediterranean Food, Garden Iblean, Viale Margherita, 41, 97100, Ragusa Ibla www.anticoconventoibla.it/scuolanosco/
Arancini are fried rice balls coated with breadcrumbs, said to have originated in Sicily in the 10th century during the Kalbid rule of Sicily. They were probably imported by the Arabs who eat their rice, saffron seasoned, with herbs and meat meals. The breading was added later in the time of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (also King of Sicily), when, essentially, he wanted a 'take-away' for hunting trips.
The measures used below here are those we used in a class group of about 10 so you may wish to reduce amounts accordingly
Risotto
2 litres of vegetable stock
1kg of Arborio rice
100g butter
80g grated cheese
50g tomato extract
25 grams saffron
salt and pepper
Boil water and the vegetable stock and add the saffron, butter, cheese, tomato extract, rice and salt, pepper to taste. When the rice is cooked, unlike normal risotto, it should be dry - allow it to cool.
Ragu (sauce)
1kg minced meat
300g peas
100g carrots
100g celery
100g onions
50 g white wine (Marsala in Sicily
10g nutmeg
In a frying pan, fry the minced meat and onion, celery and carrots (chopped into same size bits) in oil (we used rape seed oil), add the wine and continue stirring until it evaporates, add salt, pepper, nutmeg and finally the peas - allow to cool.
The Filling
Ragu (sauce)
Boiled eggs
114g Fresh cheese (in Sicily use canestrato)
but you can use mozzarella
 |
| Finished arancini Photo: Alessandrocelona |
400g of flour
1 liter of water
Prepare a batter with flour and water as required, to obtain a runny-thick Dip the rice balls one at a time and then cover with breadcrumbs. Drop carefully into the hot oil. Fry until golden orange colour
Forming and frying
Wash your hands in cold water and while wet take a handful of rice roll into a ball and spread it on the hand using your thumbs to form a cavity into which a portion of the ragu mix, add a cheese cube and a slice of hard boiled egg. Now knead the rice back into a ball -about the size of an orange. In South Eastern Sicily, for some reason, it is pointed at the top and more resembles a pear
Travel File
I flew with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) direct from Dublin to Comiso, in South East Sicily (Thursdays and Sundays) They also fly London Stansted direct to Comiso
Ryanair also fly Dublin direct to Palermo on Mondays and Thusdays
For Information on travels in Italy:
For Italian cooking classes in Dublin contact:
The Italian School of Cooking www.flavourofitaly.net/en/content/6-cookery-school
For food and wine centered tours in Italy contact:
Flavour of Italy Travel. www.flavourofitaly.net/en/content/60-travel
For a real taste of Italian cooking visit:
Pinocchio Italian Restaurant and Wine Bar, Luas Kiosk, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 www.flavourofitaly.net/content/8-pinocchio-restaurant
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