Arancini di Riso-Sicilian Rice Balls

If you are familiar with the Arancini, which literally means, "little oranges" then you would know what this authentic, Sicilian, or Calabrian delicacy is. It is called Rice Balls. You can make it two ways, the first one which we all are familiar with are with a scoop of ground meat, w/sauce, and a cube of mozzarella cheese, and let's not forget the green peas. You can also make it vegetarian style, with just the mozzarella cheese in the middle, served over plain Marinara sauce. Either way, you've never tasted any Italian comfort food, which is usually served as a snack in the middle of the afternoon, or an appetizer, for a few, or a crowd that will disappear faster than pizza. I had the opportunity to learn about this yummy dish, firsthand when I lived in Sicily, and also visiting family in the recent years. Nowadays, as in the past, it is still a very popular tasty treat, made in every pizza place, or in cafes, and mostly it's a tradition to make on a Sunday afternoon.

There really isn't much difficulty in making the Arancini if you have all your ingredients organized, your meat, or plain sauce ready, and all you have to do is to just assemble them together, and ready to fry...yes, fry! and not bake. You will not be required to deep fry them, as long as you have a couple inches of fresh vegetable oil sizzling in a large heavy duty deep skillet, you will have the most crunchy, and delicious tasting Arancini, dipped into extra sauce, or just eat them just like the way I am holding a yummy piece!

Arancini-Sicilian Rice Balls
 my own recipe

2 cups of raw long grain rice
2 Tablespoons butter
4 eggs separated
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup fined bread crumbs
Vegetable oil for frying

Cook rice until firm (not tender). Drain. Place rice in a large bowl. Add butter, cheese, salt, and pepper.Let it cool down for about 20 minutes. Add the egg yolks, and mix well. Spread out on a large platter and let it cool down in the fridge for about 30 minutes, up to an hour. Next, make your meatsauce, or Marinara sauce, according to your favorite recipe. For the meatsauce, use at least 1 lb. of ground lean beef. You will have plenty of extra meatsauce or plain sauce leftover, from a good batch of sauce.

This is basically how you form the rice balls.
The only problem was, that I didn't let the rice cool down enough, and probably added too much meatsauce.
The frozen peas do not have to bee boiled, just let them thaw out. I placed another portion of rice on top of this, and rolled it into a ball, then I dipped it in the remaining 4 egg whites, which has been mixed with about 1/4 cup water, and dipped it into the bread crumbs, rolling it into a ball, and frying it till it was nice, and golden brown.


Filling for the Arancini

Scoop out a good amount of the ground beef with a slotted spoon, into a separate bowl, and get your set up ready. You need about 1 cup frozen peas, thawed out at room temperature, and about 1 cup small cubed, or even shredded mozzarella will work. Put 1 heaping tablespoonful of rice in the palm of your hand. Flatten slightly, then place about 1 or 2 teaspoon of the meat filling, about 1 teaspoon of the peas, and a cube of the cheese. For the meatless version, do the same with the plain sauce, the cheese, and the peas, or you can just use the cheese, and omit the peas. Add another heaping tablespoon over the top, and enclose it packing the ingredients well to stay inside. Beat the remaining egg whites with 1/4 cup water till frothy, then roll the rice balls into the egg whites, and dip into the breadcrumbs, that has also been seasoned with salt, pepper, and Romano cheese. Fry in about half filled skillet, with vegetable oil, or in a deep fryer. until golden brown, Drain on absorbent paper towel, and serve over a bed of extra sauce, or by itself. Serve hot, or at room temperature. Makes about 12 to 16, depending the size you make. Oh, so delizioso...Mangia!

If you love Italian food, I promise you that you will want to have this ridiculously, and totally amazing Arancini to make. It really is worth the precious time, and effort!

Sicilian Puttanesca Sauce...and a Winner!

It's been a trying 3 days for me...trying to scan photos on my scanner, which is a Canon, flatbed, from ten years ago. I do have another newer model, from HP, but that is at least six years old, as well. That particular one, the scanner does not work. I'm trying to be this "self help" computer tech, and it' taking a toll on my patience already, figuring things out. Well, everything is working on the old scanner...lucky for me, I saved the soft-ware to upload the program, now, just a matter of time, how to upload the scanned Sicilian precious photos that I wanted to share with you. I will probably have to resort to my daughter's scanner later, to upload them. I made this pasta the other night at my daughter's house, and it was a huge success, even with the little ones. I have never seen a 4 year old child eat anchovies, black olives, capers, at all, and here I have my little "snow white skinned" blue eyed  Mediterranean grandson, who eats just about everything you put on his plate, especially foods, such as this, and wants a second helping. Something about Puttanesca, which derives from the word "putana=whore," really does have a history behind this famous sauce, does not mean actually, that putanas, where actually cooking it.

The real meaning of the Puttanesca sauce is that women, who just spent time "screwing" around all day, didn't have the time to make a real dinner, and just used everything they could find in the cupboards, and using fresh ingredients, of course....literally "threw" everything together. The real essence of Puttanesca is. "making do" with ingredients you have on hand. Now, doesn't this sound more logical? The nicest part about this, is using fresh blanched, chopped tomatoes, instead of the canned, and fresh herbs, such as fresh basil, and a few leaves of fresh parsley if you have on hand. A nice grating of Parmesan cheese, will guarantee you not only an amazing home made sauce from "scratch," but raves from the entire family, and this assures a beautiful company dish, as well.

I learned how to make this sauce, when the first time I visited in Sicily with my "then" husband and my baby daughter, of 6 months old, in the early seventies. I, as an independent American woman, did not like the strict ways women were viewed in Sicily, at the time. Things have changed drastically since then, and today, women are considered just like their "western counterparts"...meaning, that they are just like us, here, in the U.S. Did I bring on the change? I don't know, but I'd like to think I had a helping hand in it. For instance, women were not allowed, to go taking walks, alone or I should clearly define it, they were considered as "puttanas-whores," should they walk anywhere near the port. Well, no one could tell me otherwise, because I did just that, since my in-laws lived near the ocean, and the famous port in the province of Agrigento, which is the most beautiful place on earth, that you could find. It' has a lot of Greek ruins, from the days when Greeks ruled the island. They have such a beautiful port that is like a picture right out of a "tourist guide." Most tourist did not even know about all these amazing places back then. The port was filled with daily fishermen, catching their lively hood, and ships entering, and leaving the port.

There were NO women to be found on the port, except, ME...MYSELF...AND I, wearing  "red polka dots" culottes, as we called them back then, and a white straw hat to match, with cute white sandals. I must have stood out like a "sore thumb" just strolling around, gazing at the beautiful water, and watching the fishing boats, when I saw my husband, and brother-in-law running towards me, interrupting my calm serenity, and thoughts...saying "Que fai?" What are you doing? ...in my broken Italian, I tried to explain to my brother-in-law, that I just wanted to take a walk, when my husband, in his broken English, was telling me, and ordering me...NEVER, NEVER, walk to the port, again, and NEVER, NEVER, take a walk dressed this way! "Don't you know, that only "putanas" dress up in red?...and in shorts?..."Please" I said, this shorts, as you call them, are just barely above the knees, and I'm young, so why should I not wear bright colors?...any way, that was my first lesson, what to do, and what not to do in Sicily!

One thing for sure, my sweet mother-in-law, Mattia, who my youngest little granddaughter takes the name from, loved me, unconditionally, and had the patience of a "Saint" for me, and we bonded on that day. Funny, as it may seem, but she taught me how to make this sauce....coincidence, as it may be, but this is a story I will never forget. Now, when I think about the Putanesca sauce, memories from that come rushing back into my mind, and I just have to tell it to someone, so I chose you, my friends...true story!

Sicilian Puttanesca Sauce
my own recipe


4 large ripe tomatoes
1/2 cup of white, or red wine ( I used white)
8 oil cured olives, or other black olives, pitted
4 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
also, extra for drizzling on top
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
6 anchovies, rolled in capers (optional)
a handful of white mushrooms, sliced (optional)
12 fresh basil leaves
a handful of Italian fresh parsley (optional)
1 lb. fusili lunghi, or spaghetti
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
grated Parmesan cheese

First thing you must do, is to drop whole tomatoes in boiling water, to blanch them, just enough to see the skin loosening, and taking them out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon. Add more water to the large pot that the tomatoes were blanching in, to boil the pasta. Run tomatoes under cold water to remove the skin, easier. Chop the tomatoes into small chunks, removing the hard core.

Heat the garlic an the crushed red pepper in a large skillet, adding the olive oil, over medium-high heat. Add the wine, let it cook down a little, and add the mushrooms, and cook until it sweats, and liquids released. Add the  chopped tomatoes, and cook for a few minutes. Do not let the tomatoes get soft, leave them in chunks. Add the olives, and anchovies with the capers, stir and heat though until it comes to a boil. Turn off heat, and cover, until you are ready to incorporate with the pasta. Drain pasta, reserving a small amount of pasta water, to add to the sauce if needed. Serve pasta in a large pasta bowl, adding the sauce on top, and drizzle with additional olive oil, and snipped basil, and parsley. Pass the Parmesan cheese. Serves 4. Absolutely divine pasta, you will ever taste!

A popular residential and small shops area, in the city, in Sicily...province of Agrigento, 20 minutes from the actual Greek culture Sicilian city. This is a fairly recent photo from about 5 years ago.

....and the winner is: Rosemary, from Sprigs of Rosemary

I used the generated numbers from Random.org  1-40...earlier this morning, and the #10 came up. I noticed there has been a #41 since, sorry, but I want to be fair, and will not re-generate the numbers. I should have done this last night, but was working on trying to scan my photos...no luck, so I will post the photos of Sicily later. Also, I will try to get the Random.org widget too, which you can upload, but this is the number that came up, and Rosemary is the winner.
Congratulations, Rosemary, hope you can put the book into good use. I am confident that you will like it!
Thank you all, for participating, and leaving your kind comments, as always. I will for sure have more books to giveaway...I have lots, and can acquire them at an amazingly cheap price...that's my "thrifting" to share with you!