Alessi Arancini

Golden, patient, and deeply satisfying

Arancini are the kind of food that rewards slowness. They begin as something humble — rice, warmth, a little time — and through patient layering become something golden and substantial. There is something almost meditative about the process: the shaping, the coating, the careful lowering into hot oil. In Sicily, they've been made this way for centuries, not as a recipe to impress, but as a way of honoring what was already there. This is comfort that asks something of you, and returns it generously.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Alessi Arborio Rice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound Italian sausage, casing removed
• Alessi Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for frying
• 1 jar Alessi Smooth Marinara Sauce, divided
• Alessi Sea Salt and Alessi Black Peppercorns, to taste
• 1 cup flour
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup Alessi Italian Style Seasoned Bread Crumbs

Instructions

1. Cook rice according to package directions. Fluff, add butter and stir. Let cool.
2. In a large saucepan, brown sausage in 1 tablespoon olive oil.
3. Add 1 cup pasta sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Simmer on medium heat until heated through.
5. In a large bowl combine rice and meat mixture and place, covered, in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
6. Pour flour, eggs and bread crumbs into 3 separate shallow dishes.
7. When rice mixture has cooled, begin making arancini.
8. Coat hands in flour, and then form rice and meat mixture into a 2” balls. (Add more flour to hands as needed).
9. Roll in flour, in eggs, then roll in bread crumbs.
10. Place on a baking sheet.
11. Heat a deep skillet with 1-2” of olive oil over medium high heat.
12. Fry arancini in olive oil until brown on all sides.
13. Place on a paper towel to drain excess oil.
14. Serve with remaining pasta sauce as a dipping sauce.