Taste Scene: Eleven out of ten…

Almost a year to the day since I last planned arancini, I finally achieved some deep-fried balls of risotto filled with mozzarella. And they were magnificent.

On the night in question there were savoured at some length accompanied by some arrabbiata sauce, torn basil and extra parmesan – and an ice-cold glass of sauvignon blanc by way of lubrication. Some good things really are worth waiting for.

It’s strange though: Every single time I’m eating these breaded Italian rice balls, I always think I need to make them more often. Well-seasoned, soft and oozing with cheese within and crispy and golden with panko breadcrumbs without, they are a joy. The problem is: They are also a little bit of a mission.

You kinda have to be in the form for cooking to do a risotto (stirring and stirring and so on) but an arancini mission is extra work tagged on for good measure. You REALLY have to be in the form for cooking to knock up a batch of these bad boys – which is why arancini are traditionally made with left-over risotto. Although I don’t know about you, there isn’t usually a lot of left-over risotto hanging around in the back of my fridge. Which is why these things have to be made to order.

Still and all, sometimes I am REALLY in the form for cooking, which I was last week. And it was if the arancini planets had aligned. There was home-made chicken stock in the fridge. There was a glass of white wine left over from the Friday night. There was just enough Arborio rice in the cupboard and I had both parmesan and mozzarella hanging about looking scoffed. The result was a full scale risotto mission followed by a full scale arancini mission – two missions for the price of one.

Still and all, a cook can’t really complain when, at the end of the two missions, balls of arancini are served up and to a person, there are exaltations of ‘oh-my-god’ and ‘yummy’ and ‘11-out-of-ten’. Apart from my own personal opinions about flavour and texture and so on, these exaltations are a large part of why I cook in the first place.

Just to give myself an extra mission, I made my own chicken stock with a chicken carcase and some aromatics but you can always use a couple of stock cubes if you’re not REALLY in the mood. However, for the complete array of ‘oh-my-gods’ and ‘yummies’ and ‘11-out-of-tens,’ home-made chicken stock is the only way forward.

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp of olive oil

1 tbsp of butter

1 onion, finely diced

1 small carrot, finely diced

1 stick of celery, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

250g of arborio rice

half a glass of dry white wine

about a litre of chicken stock (maybe it’ll take more, maybe less)

a large handful of grated parmesan (about 100g)

the zest of half a lemon

1 ball of mozzarella, divided into ten or 12 cubes / pieces

2 eggs, whisked

panko breadcrumbs

vegetable oil, for frying

THE PLAN

First, add the butter and olive oil to a medium-sized saucepan and turn on the heat. Add in the chopped onions, celery and carrot and fry up over a medium heat until soft, without colouring – about ten minutes.

That done, add in the garlic and stir fry for another minute.

Turn the heat up to medium high and add in the rice, stirring about for another minute until the grains are all coated in the lovely oils.

Add in the wine and sizzle away until the alcohol cooks off.

Next, add in half of the stock, stir things up and allow it to simmer, stirring now and again for as long as it takes for the mixture to thicken. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and then, a ladle full at a time, keep adding the stock and stirring until the rice is soft. This whole part of the procedure will take about half an hour or so, so it helps if you’ve a glass of white wine to help you on your way.

When the rice is cooked through, stop adding stock. You don’t want the risotto to be too lose.

Stir in the parmesan and take the risotto off the heat.

Lastly, stir in the lemon zest, check and adjust the seasoning and then allow the risotto to cool before making the arancini. When cool, the mixture will firm up a little more and be easier to work with.

Have the whisked eggs and breadcrumbs in two separate bowls ready to go and a baking tray scattered with yet more breadcrumbs.

Take a small handful of the risotto – slightly larger than a golf ball – and flatten in your palm. Take one of the mozzarella pieces and, placing this in the centre of the risotto in your hand, envelope the risotto around the cheese to close it in the centre. Repeat with the rest of the risotto until you have lots of balls with mozzarella in the centres.

Now, one ball at a time, dredge the balls through the whisked egg and then through the breadcrumbs, laying each ball on the tray scattered with more breadcrumbs.

Repeat until all balls are breaded and ready for frying.

Taking two or three balls at a time, deep dry in the vegetable oil (170C) for about seven to nine minutes. The temperature of the oil will determine how quickly they cook (obvs) but you want something which is fried on the outside with the mozzarella molten in the middle. I usually time the first batch and then crack one open to make sure it’s perfect. Repeat until all the balls are fried.

As in the picture, I served up with that arrabbiata sauce, torn basil and extra parmesan but to be fair, you can eat one of these in your hand and it would still be delicious – ‘oh-my-god’ and ‘yummy’ and ‘11-out-of-ten,’ even.