Arancini

Name: Arancini
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: Arborio rice; Beef mince; Mozzarella; Frozen peas; Parmesan; 2 medium eggs; Dried breadcrumbs; Olive oil; Tomato puree; Onion; Beef stock

325 kcal a serving, against 546 for the traditional version. That is 221 kcal off, or 40%, with 19.6g of protein. Serves 6. 1 hour 15 minutes.

What the traditional version is

Leftover arborio rice shaped around a rich beef ragu and a cube of mozzarella, rolled in flour, egg and dried breadcrumbs, then deep-fried in vegetable oil until golden brown. It's a street food masterpiece designed to use up scraps.

What changed, and what each change costs

Deep frying in a vat of oil down to 15g of olive oil and a hot oven

Frying adds hundreds of calories of pure fat. You're just drinking hot oil.

What it costs you. So: a firmer, slightly drier crust. A perfect replica was never on the table once the fat came out. You miss the deep-fried richness, and you have to bake them at a blistering 220C to get any real crunch on the breadcrumbs.

150g of 15% fat beef mince up to 250g of 5% fat beef mince

A larger, meatier centre means less rice per ball, turning a carb-heavy snack into a proper meal.

What it costs you. Lean mince dries out faster in the pan. You've got to cook the ragu down slowly with plenty of tomato puree and beef stock so it stays moist inside the rice casing.

300g of arborio rice down to 200g

Less starch on the outside makes room for more meat on the inside, keeping the overall calories down.

What it costs you. You've got to be careful when shaping them. A thinner wall of rice means they're prone to bursting if you don't take your time with the rolling process.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Arborio rice
Beef mince
Mozzarella
Frozen peas
Parmesan
2 medium eggs
Dried breadcrumbs
Olive oil
Tomato puree
Onion
Beef stock

How it starts

Make the filling first.
Stir in the tomato puree, cook for 2 minutes to cook out the raw flavour, then pour in the beef stock and add the frozen peas.
Simmer the ragu for 20 minutes until it's very thick.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Italian.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	546	325
Protein	19.7g	19.6g
Fat	25.4g	10.3g
Saturated fat	7.6g	4.1g
Carbohydrate	57.9g	36.7g
Protein per 100 kcal	3.6g	6g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Italian prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. eggs, gluten, milk.

The method is in the book

You sacrifice the deep-fried magic, but you gain a high-protein dinner that actually fills you up without sending you to sleep. The crust still crunches and the mozzarella still melts beautifully in the middle. Eat them with a simple green salad and plenty of sea salt. I'll take that trade any day of the week.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Italian, along with 59 more. Buy the paperback