Arancini

In 1997, after graduation, I took a two month trip to Europe. This is where I caught a bad case of wanderlust that has yet to work its way out. I had many amazing experiences and saw a lot of amazing things. Today I was vividly reminded of one of my experiences in Sicily. I was traveling alone and decided while in Europe wouldn’t it be cool to look up my Italian cousins. Can I just tell you that although they had never met me before, they were so wonderful and inviting that a few years later I went to back to visit. Among the many things they introduced me to was arancini. What is arancini? Since I don’t speak Italian, and they didn’t speak much English I just had to trust it would be good. Oh man were they good. Basically an arancini is leftover risotto, breaded with a hunk of mozzarella cheese in the center which then gets fried. YUM! I haven’t had one since that time in Italy but I saw a recipe today and thought that maybe it would be worth a try, although I am going to hunt down a baked version to make them a little more healthy.