Arancini Patties

If you have some leftover risotto, one of the most delicious things you can do with it is transform it into these Italian-style fried rice balls. They’re good quite plain with just some cheese worked into them, or with other scraps of leftover meat or veg mixed in. Authentic arancini are deep-fried and have a molten centre of mozzarella, but these simple patties are much less fuss to assemble and easy to shallow-fry!

Method

To make large arancini with a surprise centre, make 2 patties (don’t flour them yet!) make a dimple in the middle of each and spoon a tasty filling into only one of them.

Place the non-filled patty, dimple side down, on top then squish the 2 patties together to seal in the filling and shape to make a single, fat patty. Repeat with the rest.

Fry as above and serve piping hot.

 

Filling options:

Cubes of mozzarella or blue cheese.

Fried mushrooms, with cooked peas.

Scraps of ham or chunks of cooked sausage.

Cooked spinach and pine nuts, mixed with some soft goat’s cheese.

Ingredients

(Makes about 6 patties)

250–350g cold cooked risotto

50–70g Parmesan or other hard cheese, grated

Any scraps of cooked meat or fish, torn or chopped into small pieces

Any cooked veg, such as mushrooms or courgettes, chopped small, and/or peas

Some soft herbs, such as parsley, dill, lovage, chervil and/or chives, chopped (optional)

1 egg, beaten, to bind (if needed)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

For the coating:

Some plain flour

1–2 eggs, lightly beaten (optional)

Couple of handfuls of fine breadcrumbs (optional)

For frying Sunflower oil

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