Our journey to discover Italian delicacies continues; today we are in Sicily, a region with a not indifferent culinary culture, which gave birth to arancini.
Pride of Sicilian cuisine in the world, arancini (or arancine) are timbales to be eaten as snacks, appetizers, first courses or main courses. Walking through the Sicilian streets we can find different variations of this delicacy that can have different shapes (oval, pear-shaped or round) and condiments (starting from the classics with meat sauce, up to the more original ones with pistachio, spaghetti, spinach or bean ragout).

                     INGREDIENTS for 16 arancini:

• Rice for risotto: 1 kg
• Vegetable broth: to taste
• Saffron sachet: 1
• Mixed ground: 300 g
• Peas: 150 g
• Tomato puree: 300 g
• Tomato paste: 1 teaspoon
• Sweet provola in cubes: 200 g
• Carrots: ½
• Onions: ½
• Celery stalks: ½
• Extra virgin olive oil: q.b.
• Fine salt: to taste
• Pepper as needed.
• Flour 00: 200 g
• Water: 300 ml
• Breadcrumbs: to taste
• Seed oil for frying: q.b.

                    PREPARATION:

• We cook the rice in the vegetable broth, in which we have previously dissolved the saffron.
• When the rice is ready, drain it and let it cool by spreading it out on a large tray.
• In a pan with a drizzle of oil, fry the chopped carrot, onion and celery. Then add the minced meat and brown it, breaking it up with a fork.
• Finally, add the peas, together with the puree and tomato paste. Add salt and pepper and let it cook for about ten minutes, or in any case until the sauce has reduced.
• It's time to assemble our arancini. Wet your hands and take a nice handful of rice, spread it over the palm and put a little ragù in the center and a couple of cubes of provola.
• We wrap the filling with rice, compacting well and giving the classic rounded shape. We continue like this until we run out of ingredients.
• Let's move on to frying. In a large pan, pour plenty of oil; while it is heating up, prepare the batter by placing the water and a pinch of salt in a bowl. (To prevent lumps from forming, mix with a whisk while adding the flour. We must obtain a smooth and not too thick batter.)
• Coat the arancini by passing them first in the batter and then in the breadcrumbs, then dip them in the hot oil.
• When they are golden, take them out with a slotted spoon and drain them on a sheet of absorbent paper.