Mushroom Arancini with Gruyere
Impossibly tender and creamy risotto balls are filled with melty gruyere and fried to golden perfection.
Equipment
- Deep Fry Thermometer
Ingredients
Risotto
- ½ pound crimini mushrooms
- olive oil
- ½ tbsp salted butter
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 1 large sprig fresh thyme
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup pecorino romano cheese, grated
- kosher salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Arancini
- 4 oz. gruyere cheese, cubed
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups panko breadcrumbs
- 6 cups avocado or vegetable oil, for frying
- marinara sauce, for serving
Instructions
Risotto
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Wash the crimini mushrooms, then arrange on a baking sheet. Lightly drizzle to coat with olive oil, then roast until soft, about 15 minutes.
- In a food processor, blend the mushrooms until finely ground.
- In a large pot, melt the butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and saute until just starting to caramelize, about 4 minutes.
- Warm the chicken broth in a separate pot on the stove until just steaming.
- Stir the rice, thyme sprigs, and 1 tsp. salt into the garlic and onion. Increase the heat to medium-high and toast the rice, stirring, about 4 minutes, until the rice is just barely browning.
- Pour in the wine. Stir until the wine is absorbed into the rice.
- Decrease the heat back to medium and stir in a few ladles of the hot chicken broth. Cook, stirring often, until the broth is absorbed, keeping a gentle simmer going.
- Continue this process, adding the chicken broth a ladle at a time and stirring until it is absorbed, until all the broth is gone.
- Taste a small spoon of rice to check for doneness, it should be soft with just a slight chew to it.
- When the rice is cooked, stir in the ground mushrooms, pecorino romano cheese, and freshly cracked black pepper and salt, to taste.
- If the risotto is too thick, it can be thinned with a little more broth. If it is too thin, it can be simmered a bit longer to thicken.
- Remove the woody thyme sprigs. Allow the risotto to cool.If you are making the arancini the same day, spread the risotto out onto a baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for quicker cooling.
Arancini
- When the risotto is at least room temperature (colder if possible), form the arancini:Scoop ¼ cup risotto into your hand. Flatten into a disk, place a cube of gruyere in the center, then form the risotto into a ball around the gruyere cube.Place the ball onto a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining risotto and gruyere.
- Place the arancini into the freezer while you prepare the coating ingredients (at least 10 minutes, up to 1 hour.
- Heat the avocado/vegetable oil in a pot over medium heat.
- Place the all-purpose flour, eggs, and panko breadcrumbs into three separate bowls. Beat the eggs until scrambled. Season the panko breadcrumbs with salt and pepper.
- Coat the arancini:One at a time, coat the balls in flour, then egg, then panko breadcrumbs, being sure to shake off the excess at each step.
- When the oil reaches 350°F, gently place a few balls into the oil, being sure not to crowd the pot (usually about 5 at a time). Fry until golden and crisp, about 7 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack or paper-towel lined plate to drain.Repeat, in batches, with remaining balls.
- Serve immediately, with warm marinara for dipping.