*Arancini* Arancini* Arancini* Arancini *

This request came by telephone. And it was from a man. So many requests for lost favorite recipes do come from men. They want to taste what "Mamma used to make!" Once he told me he was Sicilian-American and he was looking for an "orange-colored rice balls filled with stuffing," it was easy. He was talking about arancini, "little oranges," rice balls stuffed with goodies that get their color from saffron. His Mom always made arancini for Easter.

Arancini are Sicilian and there are as many ways of making them as there are hill towns in Sicily. According to Carol Field in Celebrating Italy (If you are an Italian-American and you do not have this book, get it!), Sicilians served arancini in honor of Santa Lucia, and they specifically serve them on her saint's day, which is December 13. Tradition maintains they honor the saint because she saved Sicily from famine when much needed grain arrived in one of the Sicilian ports on her saint's day. Today in Sicily they are served often, too. One man told us he ate them on the ferry from the mainland to the Sicilian island.

Transported to America by the thousands of Sicilian immigrants that came to America, arancini developed additional traditions. In America families served them throughout the year, especially on holidays and other special celebrations. Christmas is a favorite, so is Easter when some families use they to break their long Lenten fast.

If one delves further, one will find that arancini are probably descended from a Middle Eastern treat served in Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt called alternately kebbeh or khobebia. This is a bullet-shaped croquette with a spicy mixture of meat, onions, and pine nuts in the center. The outside is not rice, but bulgur wheat. Sicily has a long history with the Middle East, so it is not surprising that a good portion of their foods have Middle Eastern origins.

Anna Del Conte in her excellent book Gastronomy of Italy, tells us that the traditional fillings for arancini in Italy are meat and tomatoes, or chicken livers and tomatoes, or mozzarella and tomatoes, or ham and peas. Recipes of Italian-Americans have stuffings of all varieties and some have no stuffing at all: whatever was available, whatever the cook remembered, whatever the family liked. Even saffron, the ingredient that gives the dish its name, has disappeared from many of the Italian-American recipes. Was saffron hard to find in America, or did the immigrants never look for it in drug stores?

Arancini

Stuffing:

2T olive oil 2 garlic cloves chopped 1 onion, chopped 1/2 pound lean ground beef 1 pound mushrooms, diced 1 cup crushed tomatoes 1 teaspoon allspice 1/4 cup white wine 1 cup cooked peas (or pine nuts) 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Place a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Heat to hot. Add olive oil. Allow to warm. Add chopped garlic and onion. Brown, add meat, salt, and pepper. Break up meat and continue to brown. Add chopped mushrooms. Mix well. Add tomatoes, allspice, and wine. Lower heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Add peas. Mix well. Raise heat and allow to dry. Remove from stove. Add grated cheese and mix well.

Preparation:

5 cups water 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups rice pinch of saffron 1/4 cup water 3 eggs 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese 1/4 pound butter dash of salt dash of white pepper 1 cup flower 2 eggs, beat pinch of salt 2 cups bread crumbs oil for frying

Bring water to a boil. add salt. Add rice, stir well, cover, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until al dente. Soft rice is not good for this recipe. While rice is boiling, combine saffron and boiling water and allow to brew for 20 minutes. Strain the tea. Drain rice very, very well. Add saffron tea and mix well. The saffron will tint the rice. Add eggs, cheese, butter, salt, and pepper. Mix well and set aside to cool for at least an hour. Rich should be golden orange and firm. Too moist it will be difficult to handle. Place 2-3 tablespoons of cold rice mixture in the palm of your hand. Press firmly, to make a dent. Fill the dent with slightly less than a tablespoon of the met mixture. Cover the filling with an additional rice mixture. Press firmly together so no filling is showing. Form into a ball to resemble small oranges and refrigerate an hour to firm. Roll the ball in flour. Then dip in beaten egg to which salt has been added. Roll in bread crumbs. Place a 4-6 quart pot over medium heat. Add enough oil to cover the arancini. Heat. Drop arancini into the hot oil. Do not allow to touch. Fry golden brown, remove, drain on a paper towel. Serve hot.