Mushroom Risotto Arancini
I had leftover oyster mushroom risotto from my foray into growing my own mushrooms (read my review of the Back To The Roots mushroom kit I got for Mother’s Day) and had been dreaming of arancini (Italian rice balls). Crispy, crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside. You could stuff it with things but I felt it was already rich enough to stand on its own.
Chilling the risotto will make it easier to work with and shape. The egg wash was a duck egg from my own ducks. (Is there anything better than growing your own food?)
You could also deep fry it but I don’t like to waste that much oil so I use the pan frying method.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups chilled mushroom risotto
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- Enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom inch of a pan
- Fire Roasted Tomato Jam (optional)
- Shaved Asparagus Salad (optional)
- Heat the oil in a pan over high heat, so when you drop in a few breadcrumbs, they bubble. The bubbles should be small but plentiful and not splattering–if they are big, your heat is too high.
- Using a spoon, drop a ping pong ball sized scoop of the cold risotto into the egg wash. Using another spoon, place it into a bowl full of breadcrumbs. You can gently shape it by rolling it around the breadcrumbs until its covered.
- Drop the rice ball into the oil and fry on one side until golden, then flip it and fry on the other side. About 1 minute on each side.
- You can choose to make all the balls at once, or make them as you’re frying. It might be easier for someone who isn’t fast to make them all first and set to the side and then fry.