Wild Mushroom Arancini with Truffle Sauce

Stuzzi makes the best arancini outside of Puglia (although I may be a bit biased as we got married there). There's something awesome about being served a deep fried ball of risotto the size of your fist, not to mention they stuff it with cheese or butter to make cutting it open make your mouth instantly water.

I had a go at recreating their style of arancini using wild mushrooms and stuffing it with mozzarella di bufala campana. You should definitely serve it with truffle white sauce.

Ingredients

• 200g butter
• 250g wild mushrooms
• 3 banana shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 250g Arborio rice
• 1l chicken stock
• 1 handful flat leafed parsley
• 2 eggs
• 100g plain flour
• 200g panko breadcrumbs
• 1 ball of mozzarella di bufala campana
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Melt 100g of butter in a large pan
2. Finely dice the shallots, garlic and mushrooms
3. Add the shallots, garlic and mushrooms and caramelise on a low heat
4. Add the rice and fry
5. Add a ladle of chicken stock at a time, continuously stirring
6. Keep adding stock until the rice is al dente
7. Stir in the fresh parsley
8. Empty the risotto onto a tray and spread out to ensure it cools quicker
9. Place into the fridge for an hour to allow it to firm up and cool
10. Prepare 3 bowls with the flour, eggs (whisked) and panko breadcrumbs
11. Form half a ball in your hand with the cooled risotto mixture, into the center press a cube of the mozzarella, and then form the other half of the ball over the top
12. In the palm of your hands press the ball tightly ensuring it's as round as possible
13. With one hand, roll the ball in the flour, then the eggs
14. With the other hand roll the ball in the panko breadcrumbs and place onto a tray
15. Repeat for however many balls you can get out of you mixture, it should make around 6
16. Heat enough vegetable oil to cover the balls in a large pan to 180°C
17. Fry up to 3 balls at a time, ensuring it gets nice and golden on the outside and nice and runny on the inside (around 10 minutes)
18. Eat as quickly as possible to ensure the mozzarella is oozy, or hold at temperature in an oven at 180°C

Notes

When you make the risotto, you want to try and keep it as loose as you can while it being possible to form balls from it, this makes the end dish a lot less dry. As long as you cook it long enough, the fats in the sauce will melt and you'll get that nice oozy texture to it when you cut it open.

Inspiration

Mostly stolen from Stuzzi. Just go, you won't be disappointed.