Anita’s Cheesy-Meaty Arancini Balls

Italian Arancini, or rice balls, using left over cold rice! They are delicious crispy nuggets from the outside, with a delicious soft meaty and cheesy filling center. Worth the little long process. Enjoy and spread the LOVE!

Ingredients

For the RICE:

2 cups Arborio or short grain rice ( leftover cooked rice)

For The Meat Sauce: 

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tablespoon olive oil

1/2 pound of ground meat

1/3 teaspoon nutmeg

1/3 teaspoon of oregano, ground

salt and pepper to taste

frozen peas(optional)

Preparation for Meat sauce

1. Add olive oil to a large pan. At medium heat, sauté onions and garlic until tender. Incorporate ground meat, season with nutmeg, oregano, salt and pepper. cook until browned.

For The Arancini Balls

1. Place cook rice in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup all purpose flour. mix till well combined. Add one egg and mix into the rice until forming a ball in your hands.

For the breading

1. Combine 2 cups of bread crumbs(homemade is better) with 1/2 cup of  grated pecorino Romano cheese.

Making the Arancini: Roll the rice mixture into your wet hands with water to avoid sticking. Spread the rice flat like 1/4 cup into your hand. Place meat filling in the center with a peace of gouda or another cheese of your preference, and close it into a ball. Deep rice balls into an egg whisked and then roll  in the bread crumbs mixture. Use vegetable oil to fry them into a large pot for 2 to 3 minutes rotating them to be able to crisp up all around evenly. Fry 3 to 4 at a time.

Remove from heat and place over Marinara Sauce(recipe on my site). Enjoy and spread the LOVE!