How to make the Arancina di riso by Pino Cuttaia

2017-08-18 The origins of irresistiblearancini di riso, typical Sicilian street food , are unknown. Some think that it is definitely a food of the people, the result of the frugality that led housewives to recycle leftovers from the day before. Other think it is a snack with noble origins. Others think they were prepared by saintly hands – those of nuns in Sicilian convents.
The origin of thisArancina di riso with red mullet ragout and wild fennel, whose ingredients we published in a post the day before yesterday and whose method we give you today is certain: it is a recipe by Pino Cuttaia, the chef with 2 Michelin stars, owner of “La Madia” restaurant in Licata, in the province of Agrigento.
It is a recipe that honours this great, but modest, Sicilian chef’s idea of cuisine: one in which, as he himself writes, he – reinvents memories, transforming them into perfect dishes to celebrate the seasons and as a symbol of the gastronomic history of fellow Sicilians ”. Cuisine that recreates the taste of home and the skilful and loving care that has won unanimous acclaim from critics and public alike.
How do we make the arancina?
• Chop the onion and fry it in a rondeau (pot).
• Add the water and saffron and bring to the boil.
• Add the rice and stir continually until the water evaporates completely.
• Add salt and pepper to taste and cool in a blast chiller.
• Grease the savarin moulds and cover them with the breadcrumbs.
• Fill the moulds with the rice.
• Cook in the oven at 200 °C.
Then make the red mullet ragout.
• Fillet the red mullet and cut them into little diamond shapes.
• Chop the onion and put it in a pan.
• Add the oil, raisins, pine nuts and wild fennel.
• Add the red mullet and cook.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
Finally, make the fennel sauce.
• Remove the fennel leaves and chop finely.
• Heat the tomato sauce and add the fennel.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
How topresent and garnish the dish.
• Unmould the rice onto flat plates.
• Fill the hole in the centre with the red mullet ragout.
• Spoon the red mullet sauce around the savarin.

Mariagrazia Villa

Recipe: Chef Pino Cuttaia (“La Madia”, Licata, Agrigento).
Recipe source: Luciano Tona, Arturo Delle Donne, Andrea Sinigaglia (editor), Gusto Italiano. Cucina contemporanea dei maestri Alma, Edizioni Plan, Milano, 2012.
Dish photo: © Arturo Delle Donne.