Arancini originated in Sicily and are breaded and fried rice balls. They are commonly filled with ragù (meat sauce), tomato sauce, mozzarella and/or peas.
I learned to make this recipe in an Italian Cooking class I took. My husband, who doesn't like rice, begs for these. We also added diced fine ham. We were told this is a staple in Sicilian households - 02 Oct 2007 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
The only changes I made to this recipe were that I used 1 tsp. dried thyme because I didn't have fresh, and I used Mozzarella cheese because I couldn't find Fontina. I am puzzled by the indication that this recipe yields 6 servings. Dividing the risotto mixture into 6 produces croquettes about 3-1/2" diam. each, which is about the size of a softball, and that's before inserting the cheese! Dividing the risotto into 36 instead, produced croquettes about 1-3/4" diam., and were the right size for inserting 3/4" cubes of cheese. Once filled with the cheese, each croquette is about 2" diam. Final note...only 2/3 cup of bread crumbs was required to coat all 36 arancini croquettes. I enjoyed these, but am only giving this 4 stars because two in my family aren't big fans of Parmesan (necessary, because it's the "glue" that holds the risotto together). Hope these notes are helpful. - 16 Jul 2007 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
Who knew risotto could get any better? I used this to get rid of left overs, and it was great. I didn't have a deep frier so I pan fried them. They were a little lop sided, but tasted great. - 03 Oct 2006 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)