Selenio Rice Bon-Bons with Cacio Cheese, Black Pepper, and Lemon Zest
These rice balls (bon-bons) are the Piedmont twist on arancini – lighter and more delicate. They call for Cascina Oschiena’s Selenio short grain rice, which has nice stickiness for the making of the bon-bons. This recipe is adapted from our friends at Cascina Oschiena.
INGREDIENTS (makes 4-8 servings):
- 35 oz (1 kg) Selenio short grain rice
- 14 oz (400 g) aged Italian cheese (cacio) of your choice (try Bertagni Pecorino Tuada)
- extra virgin olive oil (try Flaminio Fruttato EVOO)
- 3.5 oz (100 g) rice flour (for the tempura)
- 1/2 cup (100 mL) sparkling water (for the tempura)
- zest of one lemon
- ground black pepper
PREPARATION
Boil Selenio rice for 15 minutes in salted boiling water (use 1 1⁄2 cups of water for each cup of Selenio rice). Drain the rice and add the black pepper, lemon zest and the cacio cheese so that it melts. Once cooled, make little balls (bon-bons) roughly 1.7 oz (50 g) each. For the tempura, prepare 3.5 oz of rice flour and 0.4 cups of cold sparkling water. Dip the bon-bons in the tempura and fry them for one minute and a half or until golden brown. Serve with home made herb mayonnaise.