Sicilian Rice Balls (Arancini)

FILLING:

½ lb ground meat
½ cup peas
½ small onions
2 Tbsp. Tomato paste
¼ cup water
2 Tbsp. Sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

PREFERED FILLING
Make or buy an Italian meat sauce.
Get about a pound of top sirloin stake (or something like that)

Lightly brown meat. Then add to the Italian sauce. It needs to be completely submerged in the sauce. Cook in the sauce until the meat flakes with a fork. If necessary you can then cut through the shredded meet to make sure there are no long shreds of meat.

Put aside for the rice ball assembly.


RICE:

2 cups of dry rice (Uncle Bens long grain rice)
2 cubes / ½ lb. of butter
1 large or 2 medium eggs
1 Cup Parmesan cheese
¼ Cup Gruyere cheese
½ gal. Vegetable oil
Bread crumbs
4 ½ cups of water
4 tbsp. of butter
Small green peas

Cook rice in water and 4 tbsp. of butter for about 25 minutes, until water is gone and rice is just a little gummy. Bring to a boil then simmer.

Then add the 2 cubes of butter to hot rice and let cool.

Separate yoke from whites. (Save egg white to roll rice ball in later.)

After rice has cooled to Luke warm, add egg yoke and mix well into the rice.

Add cheese and mix well.

Use a ¼ cup ice-cream scoop, scoop rice and set on wax paper. Make a well in ball and add ½ tsp. of meat mixture with 3 peas, pick up rice and form ball around the center mixture. Roll in your hands until a butter seal forms on the ball. Then place back on wax paper for next step.

Then take the egg white with a hand whisk beat until it becomes more liquid.

Take the rice balls and roll in the egg whites and then in the bread crumbs. Then set aside in a clean pan.

Deep fry for about 3 minutes or until golden brown. (about 350 degrees) Do not get oil to hot. When rice ball is placed in the oil it should look like a light boil. If it cooks to fast, lower the temperature.

SERVE HOT AS A SIDE DISH WITH MEAT OR FOWL.


Buon Appetito!

Salvatore and Pauline Libutti
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