Arancini

Before you start

• a deep pan and oil for frying
• the rice has to be cold and stiff — cook it the day before, or leave 2h to chill
• about 1h once the rice is cold

Ingredients

Serves 4 · dimmer marks are storecupboard

• 220gshort-grain rice — arborio — its starch is what glues the ball together
• 600mlstock
• 15gbutter
• 30gparmesan
• 1 pinchsaffron
• 80gbuffalo mozzarella
• 60gpeas
• 2eggs
• 35gplain flour
• 70gbreadcrumbs — fine and dry
• 5 tbspoil for frying

Method

7 steps

1. simmer · 24m

   A plain risotto: rice toasted in the butter, saffron steeped in a little of the hot stock, then the stock in a ladle at a time until the rice is cooked and stiff rather than loose. Parmesan beaten in off the heat. Drier than a risotto you would eat.

2. rest · 2 hours walk away

   Spread thin on a cold tray so it cools FAST, then covered and into the fridge. Rice cooled slowly in a warm pot and left standing about is what makes people ill, and a shallow tray in the fridge is the whole answer. It also has to be genuinely cold to hold a shape.

3. fold · 18m

   A heaped spoon of rice in a wet palm, flattened, a cube of mozzarella and a few peas in the middle, then closed over and squeezed tight into a ball or a cone. Any seam left open lets the cheese out into the oil.

4. fold · 9m

   Rolled through flour, then beaten egg, then crumb, pressing the crumb on firmly. A second pass through egg and crumb on any patch that looks thin.

5. fry · 6m

   Oil into a deep pan, NEVER more than a third full, and brought to a steady medium-high: a crumb dropped in should sizzle briskly at once. Never move a pan of hot oil while it is hot, and keep a lid within reach.

6. fry · 14m

   Three or four at a time, turned as they colour, until deep even brown all over. Crowded in, the oil temperature drops and they come out pale and greasy.

7. finish · 4m

   Onto paper, salted at once, and left five minutes — the middle is molten. Good warm, and good cold the next day.