Risu balls o' meat sauce

IE: arancini di riso with meat sauce.

The tantalizing scent of arancini, perhaps the best known Island grill specialities, fresh and sauces mixed with flurries of the Strait, greets each new visitor in the comfortable restaurant or snack of ferries that ply between Villa San Giovanni and Messina.

It is the first greeting, then, of Sicily for those arriving by car or by train, and the first taste, where one can recognize the following influences: the Arab one, for providing rice and saffron; the French for the ragout; the Spanish tomatoes; and, before that, the Greek with fresh canestrato cheese, tender cheese, diced, mixed with meat in the stuffing.

Until the last century the arancini were as big as watermelons, when to FRY and bake were the monks of the convent of the Benedictines of Catania, as Federico De Roberto tells us in his historical novel the Viceroy.

Now they have a tendency to become increasingly small and sharp occur (those with meat sauce).

Here's the recipe: boil in water, and never in broth, rice by salting moderately and Downing al dente.

Still hot lay on marble fountain to tie it with grated pecorino cheese, saffron dissolved in a cup of hot water, and two beaten eggs.

When the mixture is well blended, the chef molds in the left hand half of arancino, preparing a niche, in the middle to accommodate a spoonful of meat previously composed with minced meat, peas, onion, tomato and smells.

On this sauce is laid a fresh canestrato cheese cheese cubes of about two inches on each side, and a bit of pepper, if the meat is not peppered.

Another spoonful of rice covers everything and arancino is now shaped into its final form, being well aware that the meat does not come out.

At this point is passed in the flour, then in beaten egg and then in bread crumbs: so you ready to fry, which will take place in a large pan with hot oil (or lard) where will float and purchase gold.

Drain frying oil and place the balls on a baking tray (and don't serve them right away, as are now the most), as there is still one last task: a refined finishing in hot oven for enamelling and drying, which give the arancino all its unmistakable aroma.

In honour of Messina, which more than any other sister Sicilian city has touted the arancino, we will drink the Red lighthouse, Orange Scented orange blossom and bergamot.