Recipe - Arancine with sausage and sanapo

Introduction to the recipe

Sanapo, known as sanapuni in and around Catania, is simply wild mustard, which people customarily go out to gather during the cold season. Sanapo is often used in pasta, but when paired with sausage, it’s a match made in heaven.

The slightly bitter taste of the greens complements the rich flavour of the sausage beautifully, coming together to create a dish that is savoury and well-balanced.

As in the case of the arancine with spinach, this recipe uses the greens in the rice as well as in the filling, adding extra flavour and colour.

Sicilian

Easy

160 grams

Meat

Ingredients for about 12 arancini

For rice:

500 grams of rice ("Roma" and "Originario" rices, mixed in equal doses)
1.1 liter of vegetable stock
2 bags of saffron
10 grams of salt
60-100 grams of butter
50 gr of wild fennel

For the finish:

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

For the filling:

200 gr of sanapo
400 gr of sausage
1 clove of garlic
extra virgin olive oil

Preparation of rice and filling

The Sanapo

Clean the wild mustard leaves and blanch them in salted water for 3-4 minutes, then drain and squeeze off the excess liquid
Chop the wild mustard finely

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, add half of the sanapo, 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

Remove the sausage from its casing and crumble it into bits using your fingers
Using the flat of a knife blade, crush a whole clove of garlic and sauté it in a pan with a drizzle of oil until just golden. Add the remaining wild mustard and let it sauté for a few minutes
Add the sausage and let it brown for a few minutes over high heat
Add the white wine and simmer until it has reduced
Remove from the heat and let it cool

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

You can make the centre of these arancine even richer by adding bits of a cheese that melts well to the filling.

Bonus idea

For even more flavourful arancine, you can sauté the wild mustard leaves before adding them to the rice.

Senapo is a green that shares its name with an Ethiopian king, one who lost his sight in an attempt to reach paradise on Earth. According to a old Sicilian wives’ tale, it also has a surprising aphrodisiac effect, especially when accompanied by sausage – and sausage is, as obvious innuendo implies, a forbidden ‘fruit’ in its own right. We, however, know quite well that this miraculous effect is not so much due to any inherent qualities of the ingredients themselves as to the atmosphere – and that's something the king of Ethiopia could not have known.

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