Recipe - Red-rice arancini with salmon tartare and burrata

Introduction to the recipe

A new trend on restaurant menus is the pairing of fish with cheese, a combination considered “taboo” until just a decade ago, and the results are often surprising, true explosions of flavour for the palate.

These arancini ‘dare’ to enclose within their centres a fresh and delicate salmon tartare, accompanied by burrata cheese, a delicacy from the Apulia region, and capers, to impart a salty savour. This filling nests inside an outer layer of red rice, a variety that, although it calls for a long cooking time, has a distinctive consistency and is intensely fragrant. Red rice contains little starch and is harder to mould. We therefore recommend using a special arancini mould when making this recipe.

Gourmet

Medium

160 grams

Fish

Ingredients for about 12 arancini

For rice:

500 gr of red rice
2 liters of vegetable stock
2 tablespoons of rice flour
10 grams of salt
60 grams of butter

For the finish:

100 gr of flour
180 ml of water
2 eggs
150 gr of bread crumbs

For the filling:

200 gr of fresh salmon
200 gr of burrata
2 tablespoons of pickled capers
a few drops of lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
salt, black pepper

Preparation of rice and filling

Preparation

Buy the salmon at least 3 days before you plan to use it and keep it in the freezer
Defrost the salmon in the refrigerator and chop it into chunks

Rice

How to prepare the rice:

In a saucepan, put the broth, the butter, the saffron and the salt
When the stock is boiling, add the rice and mix well
Cover and cook over low heat until the rice absorbs all the broth and is cooked but al dente
When cooked, stir, pour the rice on a cold surface and spread evenly to allow rapid cooling
When the rice is cool down, it is ready to prepare the arancini

Important

It is important to let the rice dry well during cooking. It should not be too hot or too wet, or it could stick to the mold.

For more informations about rice, Click here.

The filling

Mince the capers and mix them together with the salmon, then chop the burrata into pieces and add it to the other ingredients
Season with a pinch of salt and black pepper, a few drops of lemon juice, and a drizzle of olive oil

How to shape the arancini

1 - Fill the base of the Arancinotto with rice and use a spoon to pack it down firmly.

2 - Put the lid on the base and insert the plunger as far as it will go.

3 - Remove the plunger and spoon your filling into the central hole, packing it in with a teaspoon to ensure there is a generous amount.

4 - Cover the top with a thin layer of rice and press it down using the other end of the plunger.

5 - Take the cover back off of the Arancinotto and gently remove your arancino.

How to frying the arancini

The finishing touch

Put the arancini in the batter and in the bread crumbs as follows:

In a bowl, place the flour
Add the egg and water and beat well with whips
When the batter is smooth and dense, pass the arancini
Immediately after having passed them in the batter, pass the arancini in bread crumbs

Frying

Fry in plenty of oil until golden brown, to ensure your arancini fry up perfectly, use one of the following oils: peanut oil, olive oil, or palm oil.
Heat the oil to the ideal temperature, 190°C, either in a frying pan or by setting the temperature on your deep fryer.
If using a pan, you can make sure that the oil has reached the proper temperature by dropping in a bread crumb. If it sizzles, then the oil is ready.
Immerse the arancini gently in the oil, only a few at a time, so as to prevent the temperature of the oil from falling too low.
When they are done, place the arancini on absorbent paper, then serve.
Serve the arancini with sauce on the side.

For more information about Finishing and Frying, Click here.

Enjoy your arancini!

Varation

For a softer filling, substitute the burrata with fresh ricotta cheese.

Bonus idea

Sprinkle these arancini with lemon juice before serving to really bring out their flavour.

Tartare is a type of raw culinary preparation. The meat (or fish) is chopped finely with a knife and seasoned with different types of sauces and ingredients: lemon, vinegar, capers, egg, pepper. Popular tradition holds that it is called “tartare” because the nomadic peoples that roamed the steppes did not cook their meat. However, it actually takes its name from the tartar sauce with which it was traditionally served. The sauce was so named because it was considered to be crude and unsophisticated, as the Tartars were held to be.

What do you think of the recipe? Send us the photos!