How to make Sicilian rice balls (Arancini)

There are more and more places making and selling arancini. There are even food trucks dedicated to only selling those, in a wide variety of filling.

The original and traditional is made with ground meat, diced carrots, diced onions and peas in a thick tomato paste sauce. We made those last week and the reviews were good!

In one of our travels to Sicily, we found one that we came across in the beautiful mountaintop town of Erice. It was filled with creamy cheese and prosciutto. It's my son's favorite and I thought I'd try to make them for him this week.

There are a lot of steps to making them. It is time-consuming, and a deep fryer is helpful, but most people who've tried them say it's worth it!

If you have the time and the patience, give it a try. Again, the more traditional one is with meat and peas, but we loved this one so much we had to try and duplicate it.

My friend's mother who lives near there in Sicily gave me the secret of adding the cheese and prosciutto to bechamel sauce.

We figured how to roll the mixture into small spheres once it cooled. If you don't have a deep fryer, carefully cook them is a deep pan with oil that can take the heat. We use canola oil mixed with some olive oil. Good luck and buon appetite!

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