A couple of times a year I really want to make arancini. The last ones I made were shrimp and pistachio arancini, a combination I love and wanted to recreate at home. Because living abroad, even though I now find them often, they don’t have the taste of classic Sicilian arancini. So, I have the presumption to say that mine are better because I follow a recipe that has been tried and tested for years, and the result is truly top-notch. Let’s see together how to prepare them in the recipe below.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons, Saint Lucia
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs Carnaroli rice
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 0.35 oz salt
- 2 packets saffron
- 4 tbsps butter
- 14 oz shelled, frozen shrimp
- 3.5 oz toasted salted pistachios (shelled)
- 7 oz mozzarella
- 1 egg
- 3.5 oz flour
- 3/4 cup water
- 5.3 oz breadcrumbs
- qt peanut oil
Tools
- 1 Pointed tool arancinotto
Steps
Start preparing your shrimp and pistachio arancini by cooking the rice: pour the broth into a pot with the saffron, butter, and salt, bring everything to a boil and add the rice. Then lower the heat, cover, and let the rice cook, stirring occasionally, until it has absorbed all the broth. At this point, spread the rice out to cool. Now cut the mozzarella into small cubes and let them drain in a colander. Also, slice the pistachios and chop half of them into a crumble using a good processor.
Then pour the shrimp into a pan and let them sear; if you like, you can add a bit of oil and salt. Once cooked, chop them into small pieces.
Now continue assembling the arancini. I used a tool to shape them, but you can also do it by hand. Pour the rice into the mold and with the help of a spoon, press lightly on the base, then place the lid and use the plunger to create the cavity in which you will pour the filling of mozzarella, shrimp, and a teaspoon of pistachio crumble. Then add another 2 teaspoons of rice and, with the plunger’s base (inverted), press lightly on the base of the arancina. Then remove the lid and gently extract the arancina/o. If you don’t have the tool to make them, create a concavity with the rice, fill it with the filling, and add more rice to shape it pointedly. You can obviously make them round as well. After forming all the arancini, place them in the fridge for an hour.
Now focus on the breading: pour the flour into a bowl, then add the egg and water, mix everything with a whisk until you get a fairly liquid batter. Now pass the shrimp and pistachio arancini in the batter and then in the breadcrumbs. If you could get some help with this step, it would be ideal; at least you avoid washing your hands for every arancina you bread. Now get ready for frying: pour the oil into the fryer like I did (or in a large pot) and heat it up to 375°F. If you don’t have a fryer, you can do a small test to see if the oil is hot enough by simply dropping in a few crumbs, and if they start sizzling, it will be ready. Now place a maximum of 4 arancini in the fryer’s basket and let them cook for about 3-4 minutes until you achieve perfect golden browning.
Let them cool slightly and enjoy your shrimp and pistachio arancini; they’re a real treat.
If you love ARANCINI check HERE.
Saby recommends…
If you want, you can prepare a shrimp sauce and use it as a filling.
