Excerpted from Daniel Bellino-Zwicke's forthcoming book;
GREATEST HITS ITALIAN COOKBOOK
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100 Recipes of Italian-America's Favorite Dishes
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Rice Balls are a great favorite of the South of Italy where they can be found all over the place, in restaurants and trattorias, grocery stores, Salumerias, at Wine Bars, and caffes. Arancini are beloved by Italian-Americans as well, but nowhere near the extent that they are eaten in the mother country of Italy. I love them, as they remind me of the many places I have eaten them on wonderful trips to Italy. I especially remember having real tasty ones on the beautiful Isle of Capri and one wonderful Salumeria, Capri Sulumeria Rosticceria near the Piazza Umberto. I had come up from Marina Grande after a boat trip around the island and a visit to the Blue Grotto, followed by a wonderful swim at the beach. I took the little yellow bus up to Capri Town. After getting off the bus I spotted this lovely little Salumeria and popped in. I saw the Arancini on the counter and just had to have one. I got a bottle of water and walked over to the terrace of the piazza to admire the gorgeous view of Capri at this particular location, which is absolutely spectacular. I took a seat on the bench, cracked open my water and dug into the Rice Ball (Arancino). Wow! It was delicious, and one of the best I’d ever had. After that, I went back to the Salumeria every day for an Aracini or two, including the day I was going to swim at the famed Faroglioni Rocks. I first stopped by the Salumeria and got one of their tasty Arancino along with some Eggplant Parmigiano made by Mamma. I got some water and a small bottle of local Aglianico Wine from Benevento. I took the scenic walk down to the Faraglioni where I swam all day and had one of the most memorable lunch’s of my life. The setting was one of the World’s most beautiful, at the Faraglioni on the beautiful Isle of Capri with my wine, the eggplant, and my tasty Arancino from the Salumeria Capri. It just doesn’t ever get any better than that. Basta.
Arancini
Conical Shaped Rice Balls
RECIPE:
The FILLING
½ pound Ground Beef
3 tablespoons
Olive Oil
1 small Onion, peeled and minced fine
½ cup Tomato
Sauce (optional)
Salt & Black Pepper to taste
3/4 cup Frozen Peas
RICE :
1 pound Arborio Rice
4 cups Chicken Broth or water
1 small pinch Saffron
2 tablespoons Butter
½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 extra Large Egg
Salt & White Pepper to taste
½ pound of Provolone or Cacciocavalo Chesse, cut into small chunks
BREADING
½ cup Flour
2 beaten Eggs
2 ½ cups Plain
Breadcrumbs
4 cups Canola
Oil for frying
Place the ground beef and onions in a pan with the Olive Oil and cook on a low flame until beef is cooked through, about 12 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper, about 1/ teaspoon each, or to your taste. Add peas and cook for 2 minutes. Turn heat off, and set aside to cool.
Add ChickenBroth (or Water if using) to a 6 quart pot with the rice, butter and ½ teaspoon salt. Bring liquid to the boil and stir as you do this. Once the liquid comes to the boil, turn heat to lowest flame possible and let cook without stirring for 16 minutes. Turn heat off and let rice set in the pot for 12 minutes.
Place the rice in a large glass bowl and let cool for 15 minutes.
Once the rice is completely cool, add ½ teaspoon white pepper and a ½ teaspoon of salt and
the grated Parmigiano and mix. Add 1 beaten Egg and mix.
Take a handful of rice and place between both your hands and roll into balls that are just slightly smaller than a baseball, or you can make smaller if you like. Once you have shaped the rice into a ball, hold the rice ball with your left hand and push the thumb of your right hand into the ball to make a hole that goes to the center of the ball, making a hole that you will put the beef filling into.
Take about a tablespoon of the beef filling and put it into the hole. Place 1 or 2 pieces of the Provolone into the hole. Press rice around the hole to cover it up, and then round the rice between your two hands again to make the Rice Ball into a perfect ball shape.
Continue this process until all the rice is gone and made into Rice Balls.
Get 3 smallshallow bowls and put the flour in 1 bowl, the breadcrumbs in another bowl, and
the beaten eggs into the 3rd bowl. Take a rice ball and put it into the bowl with the flour and gently roll it around until it is completely covered with a light coating of flour. Gently shake off any excess flour.
Now place the ball into the eggs and completely cover with the egg. Gently shake off any excess egg.
Now roll the rice ball with the egg on it into the breadcrumbs until ball is completely covered with breadcrumbs. Shake off excess. Repeat these last 3 steps with each rice ball until they are all coated with breadcrumbs.
Place the canola oil (or any vegetable oil) in a medium sized frying pan and heat to high. Fry a few rice balls at a time until golden brown. Fry all the rice balls and place on paper towels and let cool a few minutes before serving, at which point they will still be hot, but not too hot. Or you can let them cool further and serve at room temperature with or without Marinara Sauce on the side.
NOTE: To make the Rice Ball that I describe in my little story above, substitute pieces of fresh mozzarella cheese for the beef mixture and you will have a rice ball like the one I had on my lovely little Isle of Capri. Either way, both ways are equally tasty.
This Recipe is a Gift form Author Daniel Bellino-Zwicke to Celebrate the release (July 2015) of his latest book ; Grandma Bellino's Italian Cookbook .. Recipes from My Sicilian Grandmother ..... Broadway Fifth Press, NY NY
Behind the Bar at NORMA GASTRONOMIA Sicilian Trattoria / Pizzeria
Espresso Machine, Berkel Meat Slicer, and Pizza Oven
Norma Gastronomia Siciliani is without question one of the best restaurants serving Sicilian Food in New York ... There aren't many, and Norma is not only among the best, it amy very well be the best .. These great feelings start the minute you walk through the door and you're greeted by the affable owner / chef Salvatore who is an absolute gem .. His Sicilian dishes featuring Arancini (Rice Balls), Caponata, Sicilian Pizza & Pasta, Grilled Octopus and Stuffed Artichokes are as good as it gets .. My friends Carolina and Silvio narrowed it down what we would eat with the help and suggestions of Chef Salvatore .. When are antipasti of Carciofi Ripieno, Arancini con Ragu, Caponata, and Arancini Norma arrived with some tasty Focaccia I could tell just be looking at the food that it would be just perfect .. My eyes did not deceive me, and we were all quite pleased with the tastiness and authenticity of the dishes. We ordered a bottle of Cerasuolo di Vittoria / Gulfi 2015, and we were quite happy campers. The wine was excellent and went well with all our dishes. For our second course we ordered Timballo di Anelletti, Lasagna, and Pasta con Sarde. All of these dishes were wonderful as well.
Our gracious host Salvatore, besides sending us a complimentary bowl of Eggplant Caponata, also sent us 3 tasty little Cannoli for dessert.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our lunch at Norma. This cute little Sicilian Trattoria contains all 3 primary elements needed to make a great restaurant that it's customers will fall in love with. The place should have a nice warm / pleasing ambiance that invites you. Needless to say, but it must be said, the food has to be very good, and you should be treated with warm friendly attentive service from the staff. Norma Gastronomia on 3rd Avenue in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan provides all three, and in spades. It is a wonderful litle Sicilian restaurant that I wish very well, as I'm hoping to be going there for years to come, and you will too. It's that kind of place. Basta.
My grandmother simply called this tasty meat sauce Gravy.
It’s made with Veal Shank, chunks of pork shoulder, and Sweet Italian Sausages
braised with a bit of wine and tomatoes. You need long slow cooking to get the
meat tender, and you end up with a hearty, extremely tasty Gravy that everyone will love. All those except people who don’t eat meat, or don’t eat pork. Well, “Sorry for them,” they don’t know what they’re missing! As for you, make it, serve it, and relish it!
1 Veal Shank
2 pounds Pork Shoulder
Meat cut into 2” cubes
1 large Onion, peeled
and minced
8 cloves Garlic, peeled
and minced
2 carrots, peeled and
minced fine
2 stalks Celery, washed
& minced fine
¼ cup White Wine
5 – 28 cans Crushed
Tomatoes
3 tablespoons Tomato
Paste
1 Bay Leaf, ½ a teaspoon
Red Pepper Flakes
2 pounds Sweet Italian
Sausages
Season the Veal Shank on
both sides with salt & black pepper. Place half the Olive Oil in a 8-quart
non-corrosive pot and brown the veal shanks on high heat until the veal is nice
and golden brown on both sides, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from pot and set
aside.
Season the Pork Shoulder
meat with Salt & Pepper. Add Pork to the pot and brown over high heat in
two separate batches.
Once all the meat is nicely browned, remove from pot and set aside. Add onions, celery, and garlic
to pot and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
Season the onions with a bit of salt & pepper. Add wine to pan and cook on high heat while scraping
the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. This will dislodge and brown bits
that have a lot of flavor from the bottom of the pan (deglazing). Cook until
the wine is reduced by half its original volume.
Put all the Veal Shank & Pork back in the pot. Add crushed tomatoes, Bay Leaf, Red Pepper flakes,
and tomato paste to pot. Fill an empty tomato can with water and put the water
in the pot. Bring all to the boil, then lower flame to a low simmer.
Simmer for 2 hours 15
minutes, stirring and scrapping the bottom of the pan occasionally with a wooden
spoon so the sauce doesn’t stick.
After the sauce has been simmering for 90 minutes, brown the sausages in a pan with a little olive oil over medium heat until the sausages a lightly browned on all sides. Remove from
pan and let cool for a few minutes.
Once the sausages are cooled, cut each link into 4 equal pieces each, then put into the sauce.
Remove the Veal Shank from the pot and let cool for a few minutes.
Once the veal has cooled
enough to handle, remove the meat from the veal shank and break into pieces
that are about 2” square. Put the veal meat back in the pot, and let everything
simmer on low heat for another 45 minutes.
To Serve : Cook 1 or 2
pounds of your favorite maccheroni following the directions on the package. We
like to use; Rigatoni, Mezze Monica, Cavatappi, Cavatelli, or any short maccheroni that you like.
When the pasta is ready (finished cooking), remove from heat, and drain in a colander, reserving ¼ cup or so of the pasta water to mix with the pasta and sauce. Put the pasta back in the pot it cooked in. Add some of the sauce with the pork and sausages to the pot. Drizzle a little olive oil over all and mix.
Spoon pasta onto however many plates you need. Top pasta with some more sauce on top and pass some grated cheese for your guest to apply them-selves. Buon Appetito!
Excerpted From Daniel Bellino "Z" s new upcoming cookbook,
