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Sunday, 19 June 2011

RICE BALLS ARE HEAVY ONES

The  night walks in the vespertian streets of catania has become a tradition almost indispensable for the people, particularly when the agreeable climate encourages you to stay away from home to enjoy the beautiful evenings in the city.
 Thousands and thousands of citizens (and not only) flock to the streets, stopping occasionally to greet the friend who is not seen for a long  time or the window of the new store just opened, a silk tie is 80 pounds but no problem .(Bikini by sexy sicilian ltd)
 But not only the eye wants its part: at a certain time, hunger begins to be felt and something must be done to remedy the situation, especially when  embarrassing noises begin to come from the belly.
And then, you can choose between a range of excellent restaurants, where to sit, chat and enjoy Sicilian delicacies, or simply satisfy their hunger with a warm and fragrant pizza and a beer.
 You can, however,  in the starry summer nights think of viable alternatives to the traditional dinner. Skipping the vans which prepare real-time sandwiches with all major types of meat, skipping simple ice cream (personally, I can't satisfy mself only with sweet dishes), to focus attention on one of the symbols of the Sicilian: arancino or arancina.
The arancina represents the sublimation of the most classic and perhaps the most universally known, supply of rice
When you taste a arancina, its a sort of merger of all cultures that dominated Sicily in past centuries: Arabs who brought rice, saffron that someone added to rice, the Spaniards who introduced the tomato, born in the Iberian peninsula by Christopher Columbus on his return from America, the French to the ragùthat is the heart, and Greek culture, over time, however,  the arancine have "shrunken", size, more or less, to the size of an orange (!) 
 In Palermo, the arancina ragù is spherical,  standing out out in the case of variants (Ham with butter, for example). In eastern Sicily, however, the shape is pear-shaped or conical, with a top that is inevitably more crispy where is only rice, and a bottom with the rich heart of meat sauce and cheese.
Of course, in Catania the arancine you can find a little in every Rotisserie; arancine al nero di sepia or shrimp for example, or vegetarian (spinach and ricotta or  with eggplant, just to name a few, to arancine sweets. And forms are the most extravagant taste in order to distinguish one from another.
And so, besides the classical arancine spherical, pear-shaped or conical, cylindrical, cubic arancine almost pyramid. Arancine slightly alters to suit all tastes, therefore; an excellent opportunity to try an alternative to the traditional taste of ragù or arancina arancina butter.
 The cost is extremely affordable for all budgets one euro per piece), and the mob that you see a at any time during the evening and the night is the best guarantee of quality. 
The Arabs would eat the meatballs of minced meat and rice, mixed with other herbs including saffron, that they had introduced in Sicily. The ingredients shown above are the same now used today for the composition of meat balls, therefore we càn ascribe the birth of this recipe to the Arabs.
Arancini are a classic preparations of rice in Sicilian cuisine. they can worthily replace the first dish because ultimately it is a timbaletto of rice.
  the shape is round, like an orange, precisely named by analogy. THE RECIPE.
Ingredients for 4 people:
450 grams of rice,
 1/2 teaspoon saffron,
 250 grams of chopped veal meat,
 peeled tomatoes 1/2,
100 g shelled peas,
6 eggs,
100 gr of fresh cheese,
 salt and pepper, l.
  peanut oil for frying,
 100 gr of butter,
1onion,
300 gr of flour,
500 grams of breadcrumbs.
The recipe:
Put 1 l. of water in a saucepan, butter, a pinch of salt and pepper, the sachet of Saffron and bring to a boil.
Toss the rice (ribe or Rome) and you stir once, lowered to the minimum the flame and wait until the rice has absorbed all the cooking water.
 Pour the rice on a table and let cool.
 Blanch peas, drain.
 In another saucepan, fry the chopped onion, add the meat, a little salt and pepper, peeled tomatoes and simmer over low heat, covering.
when this ragout is ready, mix with peas and pass to the preparation of arancini:
 take a bit of dough made with rice and make a bowl, place in it, with the help of a spoon, a bit of stuffing, a fresh cheese cube and cover with another rice, forming a ball.
Pass the arancini in batter  prepared with water, eggs, flour, salt, and then in the breadcrumbs.
FRY in abundant oil and serve hot.

Every year, on 8 September, Ficarazzi (hamlet of Acicastello) is held the feast of Arancini.
You can enjoy classic arancini (al ragù, butter, mushrooms etc) and newer tastes and tantalizing ( chicken,  Octopus, nutella, peppers etc.). The evening will be enlivened by Ballet, cabaret and various animations.

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