I learned to make this recipe in an Italian Cooking class I took. My husband, who doesn't like rice, begs for these. We also added diced fine ham. We were told this is a staple in Sicilian households
The only changes I made to this recipe were that I used 1 tsp. dried thyme because I didn't have fresh, and I used Mozzarella cheese because I couldn't find Fontina. I am puzzled by the indication that this recipe yields 6 servings. Dividing the risotto mixture into 6 produces croquettes about 3-1/2" diam. each, which is about the size of a softball, and that's before inserting the cheese! Dividing the risotto into 36 instead, produced croquettes about 1-3/4" diam., and were the right size for inserting 3/4" cubes of cheese. Once filled with the cheese, each croquette is about 2" diam. Final note...only 2/3 cup of bread crumbs was required to coat all 36 arancini croquettes. I enjoyed these, but am only giving this 4 stars because two in my family aren't big fans of Parmesan (necessary, because it's the "glue" that holds the risotto together). Hope these notes are helpful.
Who knew risotto could get any better? I used this to get rid of left overs and it was great. I didn't have a deep frier so I pan fried them. They were a little lop sided but tasted great.
Very good. I used leftover saffron risotto. I used the risotto cold out of the fridge and I think because of that I didn't even need to add anything (egg or breadcrumbs) to the rice when forming the balls. They held together beautifully. Just rolled them in egg wash and breadcrumbs and fried them up. Reheated really well too. Just be warned these are very very filling. I just about ate myself sick.
The rice for this was a little bland but can be used with any combination of fillings. My house likes mozzarella with ham and peas. Fried up perfectly save well great recipe.
These were time-consuming to make but they were good. Next time I will make them about half the size because as they were they were too big. Also the recipe said to deep fry them for three minutes but when I did that with the first set it was too long. The cooking time increased slightly after every couple batches. The fontina cheese was a little strong for some of the people in my family so next time I may substitute gouda instead.
awesome simply awesome. just like grandma use to make just make balls a good size. size of a league ball.
These were work intensive but good. They seem to freeze and reheat well which is a bonus for any recipe.
At nearly 800 calories, they should taste good! Just as good baked in a moderate oven tasting delicious, less like oil balls.