with the possible exception of weird deep-fried glue often called "risotto balls" on some café menus, arancini in all their permutations are great. as with most cross-regional dishes in Italy, the version of arancini or whatever you call them (arancini meaning 'little oranges') from your paesa (your 'place') is better than that of your neighbours. this of course carries over to the new country, so here I've seen a few variations. there are the golf-ball sized fairly plain rice balls in the northern style. the Siciliano who will hopefully one day marry my sister makes fantastic arancini rossi, pear-shaped with meat and tomato inside the rice, and my friend ET tells me her boyfriend's Calabrese mama makes a beautiful bianca type filled with mozzarella.but the arancini that I fell in love with were from a tiny friggatore (a fryer- not much else in the shop except a counter and a grumpy cook) in a grungy part of Naples where you also get weed, cheap booze and all-night bars (obviously the perfect location for a kitchen that fries things- no shortage of customers with the munchies).
this is what I recreated and documented when I got home, before the memory of that wonderful cheesey ball eaten out of a torn-off bit of paper in Piazza Carità faded from my tastebuds.
arancini bianci
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1 cup of arborio rice or other short rice suitable for risotto
brodo* or stock or stockcubes dissolved in water
1 egg, beaten
up to 1 cup of grated parmesan
150g taleggio or other semi-soft washed rind cheese, cut into 1.5cm cubes
to make the balls
fry the onion in plenty of olive oil over a medium heat and add some salt.
when the onion is soft but not brown, add the pepper, bay leaves and oregano (remember to fish the bay leaves out at the end).
stir in the rice and gently fry it for a minutes, then slowly add some brodo.
basically this is like cooking a firm risotto, so keep adding enough brodo to cook the rice without making a creamy consistency.
(as an aside, a creamy risotto is partly the result of constantly stirring the rice and knocking the starch about. for arancini less stirring of the rice while cooking will help to keep the grains intact and produce less starch outside the grains so they'll bind nicely with the egg and cheese.)
once the rice is cooked al dente and you have a reasonably firm mixture (it will firm up more as it cools) cool it to room temperature or lower, then add the beaten egg and the parmesan.
shape the mixture into balls of whatever size you like and poke a cube of taleggio into the middle of each one, closing the rice around it. (having a bit of olive oil on your hands and the surface where the rolled balls are resting makes this way less icky.)
now the balls are ready to crumb and fry.
*brodo, or 'broth' is lighter in flavour and salt than an English stock or a French bouillon. stock cubes diluted more than usual will work fine for this (but generally contain wheat- check the ingredients.)
for the breadcrumbs
roll each ball in flour, dip into beaten egg and then roll in breadcrumbs.
fry in peanut oil (or other light oil) at least deep enough to come halfway up the balls, then roll them over and fry the other side when golden (or go the whole deep-fry)
for a wheat-free version
for my dear friend SS I make a wheat-free crumb coating: dip the balls straight into beaten egg and then into a 'crumb' mixture of coarsley ground pistachios and polenta. a white froth might come out of these when you fry them, which sticks to the arancini, I think this is just the fat expelled from the nuts.
