Gutsy Cooks Club – Arancine (Saffron Rice Balls)

I grew up with these little rice balls, both my grandmothers and my mother made them often, but they were never made from scatch but were made with leftover risotto in the Italian tradition of never letting anything go to waste.  They were most often just plain rice balls flavored with whatever vegetable or meat happened to be in the leftover risotto.  My mother often put in a cube of mozzarella or whatever soft cheese she had on hand and we ate them as after school snacks.  Arancine means little oranges in Italian and that is exactly what these little nubbly golden balls look like.  I have so many fond memories of sitting on the back door stoop eating these little treasures.  These pork and beef filled arancine are delicious and did indeed bring back those memories as I have not had them in quite some time.  I loved them but have to admit that I did miss that little hidden nugget of cheese.  It will be there the next time I make them.  One of the tricks my mom showed me when making these is to rinse your hands between making each ball.  It helps to rinse off the starch and keep the balls from sticking to your hands and makes getting them formed more evenly a lot easier.  I also enjoy these with some marinara sauce for dipping them in.

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