Sundried tomato and mozzarella arancini with a green salad
By OcadoLife
Published on 07 December 2021
This is a great recipe for using up leftover risotto. If you have any, just pick up the method at step 3.Time and servings
1 hrTotal time
4Servings
20 minsPrep time
40 minsCooking time
Ingredients
- 1.5 tbsp of olive oil, plus 5 tbsp for the salad
- 1.5 tbsp of unsalted butter
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 200 g of risotto rice
- 600 ml of hot vegetable stock
- 180 g of semi-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 40 g of parmesan, (or vegetarian hard cheese if required), finely grated
- 125 g of mozzarella, chopped into 8 pieces
- 60 g of plain flour
- 70 g of panko breadcrumbs
- 1 medium egg, lightly beaten
- 500 ml of sunflower oil
- 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar, for the salad
- 1 tbsp of runny honey, for the salad
- 1 tsp of dijon mustard
- 1 romaine lettuce, washed and torn into bite-size pieces (for the salad)
- 1 small red onion, finely sliced (for the salad)
- 0.5 cucumber, sliced (for the salad)
- 1 avocado, sliced
Method
Step 1
Heat the oil and butter in a pan until the butter melts. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 mins over a medium-low heat until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 mins, then add the rice and stir for 1 min. Pour in 200ml hot vegetable stock and add half the tomatoes. Cook until the rice absorbs the liquid, stirring continuously. Pour in the rest of the stock a bit at a time, stirring continuously. Cook for about 15 mins, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice still has a little bite.Step 2
Add the rest of the tomatoes and the parmesan to the cooked rice and season to taste. Spread the rice out on a large baking tray and leave to cool for 10 mins.Step 3
To shape the arancini, divide the cooled rice into 8 equal portions. With damp hands, roughly shape each into a ball, then flatten into a round and place a piece of mozzarella in the middle. Draw the rice up and around the cheese and roll back into a ball. Sprinkle the flour and breadcrumbs onto 2 separate plates and pour the beaten egg into a bowl. Coat each ball in flour, then egg and finally the breadcrumbs.Step 4
Preheat oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7. In a deep-sided pan, heat the oil to 170-180°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, sprinkle the oil with breadcrumbs: if they spread out immediately with fine bubbles, the oil is hot enough. Gently drop a couple of arancini into the pan. Fry for 2 mins, turning once, until golden. Lift them out using a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towel. Repeat with the remaining arancini.Step 5
Place the arancini on a baking tray and pop in the oven for 5 mins to bring them all to temperature (this ensures the stuffing is wonderfully oozy too). Meanwhile, make the salad dressing. Combine the vinegar, oil, honey and mustard and season to taste. Put the rest of the salad ingredients in a bowl, dress and serve with the hot arancini.