Cooking with Ms. Lipetri's Italian 3 Class

Every now and then, I have the opportunity to cook with Foreign Language classes~today we made Arancini (rice balls) and Tiramisu with Ms. Lipetri's Italian 3 class; they did a great job and hopefully were as happy with their end results as I was! Photos of the process below...

 rice, eggs and cheese

 mozzarella, ground beef, peas and marinara

 "standard breading procedure"

 forming and filling rice balls

 almost done...

the finished product!

and the tiramisu...

getting the yolks, vanilla and sugar ready to make the zabaglione

 beautiful mascarpone and sugar

 mascarpone, beaten egg whites and zabaglione

 savoiardi dipped in strong sweet coffee~we also tried a few dark chocolate Milano cookies as an experiment~excellent results, as the chocolate was already layered into the cookie ;)

Sorry, no photo of the finished Tiramisu, but I assure you, it was yummy! It was flavored with extra strong sweetened coffee, real vanilla extract and shaved dark chocolate...the other "embellishments were not missed! ;)

Oh, and Arancini? This recipe makes about 12 or so...

1 T olive oil

1 small onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 c Arborio or medium grained rice

3 c chicken stock, heated to boiling

1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

1 egg, beaten

1/4 lb lean ground beef

1/2 c frozen peas, thawed

2 T tomato sauce (or your favorite marinara)

12-14 small cubes mozzarella (abut 1/2" dice)

salt and pepper, to taste

1 c flour**

2 eggs**

1/4 c water

1 c bread crumbs** (seasoned Italian, panko or plain)

**salt and pepper~season flour, eggs and crumbs to taste

about 2 c oil for deep frying

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until onion is translucent and soft, but not browned. Pour in rice and cook 2 minutes. Add boiling stock about 1/3 cup at a time, stirring until liquid has evaporated. Continue until all stock has been used. Season to taste with salt and pepper, remove from pan into a large bowl and cool to at least room temperature. When cool, add 1/2 c parmesan and 1 egg-mix well.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, saute the ground beef, add the marinara and peas and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Set up 3 pie tins for standard breading procedure...arrange in order seasoned flour~eggs and water, beaten together~crumbs.

Using about 2 tablespoons of rice mixture, make a ball, place in the palm of your hand and press fingers into the middle to make a cup shape. Place a cube of cheese and about a teaspoon of the meat and peas mixture into the center; roll and pinch together to close. Proceed until all balls are made.

Coat the balls with flour, dip in egg and then into crumbs, re-rolling as needed to maintain the shape.

Heat oil to 350 degrees in a deep saucepan or deep fryer. Fry arancini in small batches until golden brown. Keep warm in a low oven (250 degrees) until all the balls are fried. Placing in the oven also insures that the mozzarella cheese in the center has thoroughly melted. 

Serve warm with your favorite marinara!