Legend for the recipes
TIME:

fast recipes

15-30min
Preparation + cooking

medium time

30min-1h
Preparation + cooking

long recipes

Over 1 hour
Preparation + cooking

DIFFICULTY:

really easy recipes

Really Easy Recipes
For everyone

easy recipes

Easy Recipes
To enjoy cooking

challenging recipes

Challenging Recipes
But you can do it!

Hard core recipes

Hard Core Recipes
For expert ones!

SERVINGS:

Hard core recipes

The number represents the servings

back to the main menu

Rocco's Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini for Aperitivo

very simple recipe long recipes servings 4 Read the post on the blog

Why is The Aperitivo so popular in Italy? It is an easy / cheap way to get dinner and hang out with friends after work! Also consider that, in Italy, having dinner in a restaurant is, on average, more expensive than in the US (at least in San Francisco) - unless you choose a pizzeria - so it's not really common for young people to go to a restaurant.
If Italian friends invite you for an aperitivo at their place, don't worry, you won't need to eat too much after it. Having an Aperitivo is a good way to have a casual dinner, usually earlier than a normal dinner and definitely less stressful than cooking a 3 course meal!
Where you can get a great Aperitivo in South bay?! Chez Tootsie's, of course!
This recipe is an example of the food you can find during the Aperitivo: a classic one! Learn how to make a simple risotto and make the Arancini filled with pesto and cheese. For this recipe we also took some videos that showes how Rocco made them!
Enjoy your Aperitivo with the Arancini and see you at Tootsie's! Federica

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Ingredients

For the risotto (to make about 15 arancini)

- 2 cups of arborio or carnaroli rice

- vegetable broth (at least 5 cups. You can also easily make it boiling some veggies, like carrots, spinach, celery,...)

- 1/4 onion

- 2/3 cup of white wine

- 1/3 cup of gratered parmesan

- 2 tablespoons of olive oil

- 1 tablespoon of butter

To fill

- about 50g of fontina cheese

- 1 cup of pesto (if you don't have it ready, look the recipe here)

To fry

- 1 egg

- bread crumbs

- vegetable oil to fry

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Make some vegetable broth using soup stock or fresh veggies. Dice the onion.

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Sweat the onion with 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, then add the arborio/carnaroli rice. Toast the rice and when it is dry and starts to stick on the bottom of the pan add the white wine.

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Let the wine evaporate and then add a couple of ladles of vegetable broth and bring to simmer. Shake the pan and stir until the broth is incorporated. Then add the broth ladle by ladle until the rice is cooked al dente. Do not overcook the rice! It will cook a bit also while frying!

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Cut a piece of butter and grater the parmesan. Add them in the risotto and stir.

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Let the risotto cool. To make this process faster you can spread the risotto on a tray and leave it in the refrigerator.

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Meanwhile, prepare the pesto (if you don't have it ready, look the recipe here) and cut the fontina cheese. Once the risotto in cold spread a table spoon in the palm of your hand, add some cheese

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

a teaspoon of pesto and with your finger close it making a ball. You should see a short video playing, to see how Rocco made it. If you don't see it, click on the video square.

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

You should make about 15 arancini, they shouldn't be bigger than a golf ball. Warm up a pan with 3 fingers of vegetable oil. Preparein a plate the bread crumbs.

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Beat one egg in another plate. Roll each arancino in the egg and cover it with bread crumbs.

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Press gently in your hand the arncini so they won't lose the ball shape while frying. You should see a short video playing, to see how Rocco made it. If you don't see it, click on the video square.
To see if the oil is warm enough put a small piece of bread and see if it frys correctly. Then deep fry the arancini.

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Prepare some paper towels on a plate and let they absorbe the extra oil of the arancini. Check the arancini while frying (it won't take more that 3-5 minutes to get ready) and flip them if needed to get a uniform nice brown color. You should see a short video playing, to see how Rocco made it. If you don't see it, click on the video square.

Pesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blogPesto & Cheese Rice Arancini - international cooking blog

Serve the arancini warm as appetizer, better with a glass of wine!

go to the top

We want to know what you think about this recipe! Write us: intcookingblog@gmail.com