Had the best arancini the other night

[Jenise]

Or is it arancine.

Either way, these were made by a friend and I don't have the recipe, but I know what went in them. They were a vegetarian (but not vegan) preparation in which the risotto was a fairly plain mixture of water, wine, shallot and cheese, the cheese cube nested in the center was fresh mozzarella, and the seasoning, the ingredient that made all the difference in the world, was just the zest of one lemon, one lime and one orange. The outer coating was panko.

I can't tell you how cool it was to bite into these, knowing it was a fried rice ball, and then to be totally surprised and delighted when you realized the citrus zest was there. It was a very linear taste, because rather than taste all parts at once you got the fried goodness of the outer crust, then the creamy rich cheese of the inside and only then the hit of the zest which grew in the aftertaste and left you with an impression of lightness. Little balls of genius, they were. And what incredible party food--make ahead, then throw into a 300 degree oven for about ten minutes to warm through. Delightful.

Oyez, oyez.... there is a restaurant in Tel Aviv, Pronto, now in its 25th year, that does these and does them magnificently. Not too long ago went there, asked for these as a starter with a fine Brunello di Montalcino, was so enchanted with them that I cancelled my order for a main course and simply asked for two more portions of the arancini.

Also in Florence, a tiny little bistro, Angelina,who serves these would you believe at 5 a.m. for breakfast. Angelina's is a comfortable little cafe, not at all populated by tourists but much populated by the policemen who are just coming to work at that hour and the prostitutes, who are just returning from work at the same hour. Located on Piazza Mentana (just behind the Uffizi Museum), a great cafe to visit, especially at that particular hour to watch the friendly interchange by the cops and the whores. And, if you're in the area from 5 p.m. on the spaghetti puttanesca, for that is the hour when the prostitute are headed off to work and prepared in their honor.

One rule, firmly enforced by Angelina - no one insults either the whores or the cops. And if you do, her now 25 year old son will first approach you with a few words, and if you continue will pick you up by the scruff of your neck and the seat of your trousers to "escort" you,not all that gently, to the door from which he easily tosses you out on the street. No-one messes with the cops, the whores of Angelina!!!!

One of my favorite places in Florence!!! And yes, they have a great pinball machine on which I once won 75 Euros.

[Jenise]

I love your little travelogs, Daniel. Your cafe Angelina reminds me of a night at a bar in Ancorage, Alaska, where I ended up helping a sailor and a prostitute negotiate the cost of a blow job. I'll save the details for another time.

I've been to Italy, but you make me aware that I've never had Arancini there.

I guess I'm usually too dazzled by the salume and the salads of that country to spend the opportunity on a dish that, stateside, however tasty they've been are often too greasy and fattening for me to justify. Basically, they're a guilty pleasure! Most I've had have been very aggressively seasoned which is something I'm highly in favor of, but that's also why Pat and Jim's were such a breath of fresh air. They were light and bright, something that fried+rice+cheese has almost no business striving for.

I took a cooking class a couple of years back and we made rice balls which sound similar to the ones you had Jenise, but they were cooked in whole milk. Might this be a alternate method from a different region in Italy? They were very good, but lots of work.

Jenise
An interesting idea, which I'll have to try. Would the singular not be arancino (little orange), with Arancini being (mis)taken for the singular in the way that they're never advertised in the singular (c.f. Panini)?

Making arancini is one of those time consuming (but somewhat therapeutic) tasks, that often makes experiments attractive. e.g. make a batch of 6 veggie, 6 'normal' and then something more esoteric to finish (with the remaining rice). Mushroom and tarragon has been a favourite variant before.

Freezing doesn't seem to take much away from arancini, so the large batches become even more of an option, though they do tend to disappear awfully quickly, perhaps due to their 'comfort food' nature.

regards

Ian

[Jenise]

I took a cooking class a couple of years back and we made rice balls which sound similar to the ones you had Jenise, but they were cooked in whole milk. Might this be a alternate method from a different region in Italy? They were very good, but lots of work.

Hmmm, cooked in whole milk. Was that after the balls were formed, or that's how the base rice was made? If the latter, that could work, I suppose, but the tradition of arancini is that it's what you do with leftover risotto, and authentically if you want to go straight to arancini you'd make a risotto, as Pat and Jim did. Rice boiled in milk would not have the same (and most desirable) texture.

[Jenise]

Making arancini is one of those time consuming (but somewhat therapeutic) tasks, that often makes experiments attractive. e.g. make a batch of 6 veggie, 6 'normal' and then something more esoteric to finish (with the remaining rice). Mushroom and tarragon has been a favourite variant before.

Ian, it's SO good to see you!

I love that you call it therapeutic--so many kitchen tasks are, and the results are even more satisfying because of it. This is one of them. Mushroom and tarragon! Well, you just inspired my dinner. I had two cornish game hens in need of a marinade, and one fresh lion's mane mushroom in need of preparation. Your description suddenly made dinner obvious: the hens will marinate with Noilly Prat, copious tarragon and olive oil, and the lions mane will be sliced and pan fried with some splatted baby boiled fingerlings. Oh yez, as Daniel says.

And you describe well how arancini is such a brilliant blank canvas. Literally, anything can go in them. I did a token internet search to find the recipe my friends found and made theirs from to no avail, but while doing so stumbled over a lot of otherwise captivating ideas. Lobster arancini turned my head, which of course it would turn anybody's but in this case I'm thinking of it as an alternative crab-cake idea come Dungeness season.