Ingredients
500 grams of Carnaroli rice
extra virgin olive oil
a small shallot
100 grams of grated Parmigiano Reggiano PDO or caciocavallo ragusano PDO
30 grams of pecorino siciliano Dop (only if you do not put the ragusano)
60 grams of butter
a pich of Saffron
Salt
a few tablespoons of the liquid part of the meat sauce
120 grams of ground beef
120 grams of minced veal
120 grams of minced pork
half carrot
half an onion
a stalk of celery
two tablespoons of tomato paste
350 ml of tomato puree
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
a clove
a bay leaf
salt and pepper
200 ml of red wine
100 grams peas already boiled in salted water
200 grams of scamorza cheese, provola dei Nebrodi or caciocavallo ragusano
150 grams of mortadella Bologna Igp in a single slice
flour
breadcrumbs
2 egg whites and 1 whole egg
Salt
peanut oil for frying
Procedure
To prepare the recipe for arancini to Messina, let’s start from MEAT RAGU’, I suggest you prepare it a day in advance. Remember that the sauce for arancini to Messina should not be as thick as that of the original arancine Palermo with meat sauce, but a little more liquid, because some of the sauce will also be used to flavor the risotto. Finely chop carrot, onion and celery and saute in a pan with extra virgin olive oil for 10 minutes. Combine in small doses the minced meat, rosolandola well before adding the other.
Then, add the tomato paste and wine and let evaporate the alcohol. Finally, pour into the meat sauce tomato sauce, add the bay leaf, salt and cook over low heat and covered for at least two hours. Allow to cool completely and store the sauce in the refrigerator, better if all night. It is important that every single component of the Messina arancini is cold, this will help you a lot when you have to make arancini.
For the RISOTTO for the arancini alla messinese: Chop the shallot and let it dry in the pan with extra virgin olive oil, add the rice Carnaroli, Toast the rice for a few minutes and then deglaze with the white wine. When the alcoholic portion of the wine has evaporated, begin cooking the risotto by adding heat and light vegetable broth in which you have dissolved saffron.
Cook the rice as if it were a normal risotto, but the cooking issues should be minimal, lower by at least 10 minutes to those of a normal risotto, so I suggest you cook the rice for 10 minutes: risotto arancini for Messina must be very dry, because then it will be topped off with the liquid part of ragout, but extremely al dente.
Stir the rice with the butter, grated cheeses and add a few tablespoons of the most liquid part of the sauce: the result should be a pinkish color from rice. Spread the risotto for arancini alla messinese on a chopping board or a tray in a thin layer and let it cool completely (at least 3 hours, but all night keeping it in the refrigerator).
Cut the mortadella and cheese for the filling into cubes, Boil the peas in a little lightly salted water and drain them carefully.
COMPOSITION of arancini alla messinese: take some risotto and, holding it in the Palm of your hand, derive a flat sheet with a thickness of about one centimeter. Put some ragout in the center, add some mortadella, cheese and peas . Then, take another portion of risotto and place it over the filling, crushing arancina between hands to form a pyramid.
I admit that the traditional form of arancini messinesi, a pyramid very stretched upwards, it is pretty hard to do. I suggest you, then, to make the round arancini, especially if you are not very expert in the field. To make the classic round arancini, you have to press the kumquat between your hands to form a ball the size of a tennis ball, adding a bit of risotto if necessary so as not to drive out the stuffing.
For BREADING of Messina arancini prepare a dish with flour, two egg whites and whole egg well beaten and slightly salted and some breadcrumbs. Put arancini in the flour, then in beaten egg and finally in breadcrumbs. Fry arancini in peanut oil to 160 degrees (you bought it on Thermometer? I never tire of suggest it): considered a cooking time of about 6-8 minutes for arancino, necessary to melt and spin the scamorza inside, evenly heat the arancino and do not over darken the crust. And now, enjoy your arancini from Messina. Bon appétit!
Note
ADVICE: You can fry the arancini immediately or store in the refrigerator: in the second case, pass them again in bread crumbs before frying. Yet, some use a breading without eggs, made with a batter of flour and water in which is dipped the kumquat before being passed in the breadcrumbs. A me non convince, but it is an excellent solution for those who are allergic to egg protein.
MATCHING: Bianca di Valguarnera, IGT Sicily Terre, vintage 2017, produced by Duca di Salaparuta. A white made from grapes Insolia, obtained from a careful selection of grapes, vinified in oak barrels and aged in wood. An important white wine, that for its olfactory and aromatic complexity (evident notes of vanilla and ripe fruit), It can be easily combined with a substantial flat as arancini alla messinese. To try and serve to temperature of about 13 degrees.
