You’re gonna like this. I mean, REALLY like this. Arancini are delicious, hot, breaded balls of rice stuffed with things, sometimes tomato sauce, sometimes vegetables, this time mozzarella, which turns gooey and stringy when fried. All they are is risotto, cooled right down, rolled into a ball, breadcrumbed and deep fried. Serve these with a nice hot bowl of passata and you’re laughing. Definitely try these for a drinks and dinner party, they’ll go down a storm!

Ingredients

• 250g arborio risotto rice
• 1lt boiling water
• 2 chicken stock cubes
• 1 finely diced shallot
• 1 tbsp pesto
• 1pinch of cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• a few sprigs of thyme
• 1tsp oregano
• 200g panko breadcrumbs
• 1 pack of pizza mozzarella

Right, make sure your kettle is boiled, you’ll need boiling hot water for this, rice takes a lot longer to cook with cold water and you don’t want that, do you? Get a saucepan on the hob on a medium heat and stick a splash of olive oil in there. While that’s heating up, finely dice your shallot and sweat it off for a few minutes in the pan. When you’re satisfied it’s cooked, chuck in your rice and fry for a minute or two. Whilst that’s frying, in a jug, crush your stock cubes and top with boiling water. Give it a stir and pour about a third of the stock into the pan. Keep your eye on the rice and keep stirring until all the water has been absorbed. Add another third of the stock, do the same again and finally the rest until your rice is almost cooked all the way through. If you want a bit more of a bite to it, add less water at the end. When the rice is cooked to your liking, add the pesto, seasoning, thyme, oregano and cayenne. Stir it all up, pour into a baking tray and chill in the fridge till cool. While thats cooling, cut your mozzarella into cubes, get your breadcrumbs into a bowl and heat up your fryer or a pan of about 500ml oil to 170C. When the rice is cooled enough, pick up a handful about the same size as a golf ball, flatten it slightly, place a cube of cheese in the middle and bring all the edges up to form a seal. Roll it into a firm ball and roll in the breadcrumbs. When you’ve made a sufficient amount, carefully place them in the fryer and fry for about 6/7 minutes or until a beautiful golden brown. Eat them quick before they cool, better to have a burnt tongue but a mouthful of gooey mozzarella than a cool bite of meh.