Mushroom & Sage Arancini with Sweet and Spicy Cranberry Sauce

Mushroom & Sage Arancini with Sweet and Spicy Cranberry Sauce

These arancini are amazing and such a great winter snack or appetizer to be served at holiday dinner parties! The savory risotto is full of flavors and aromatics from the olive oil and cheeses, and is coated in breadcrumbs and fried to create a crispy outside. Combined with the cranberry sauce, the flavors remind me of the holiday season. They can be premade and frozen until ready to use, and just drop in hot oil for a few minutes when you’re ready to use, and you have a delicious appetizer for your guests!

Products used: Mushroom Sage Olive Oil & Cranberry Pear Balsamic, Cranberry Pear Balsamic Vinegar, Mushroom & Sage Olive Oil

Ingredients

For Risotto:
2 quarts Chicken or Vegetable Stock
¼ cup SOOC Mushroom & Sage Olive Oil
2 cups Cremini Mushrooms, diced fine
2-3 Shallots, about 1 cup, diced fine
4 Garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup Sage, Chiffonade
2 cups of Carnaroli or Arborio Rice
1 cup White Wine
3 Tablespoons Butter
1 ½ cup Smoked Gouda, grated
¼ cup Pecorino Romano, grated
½ cup Mozzarella, grated
2 Tablespoons Salt + more to taste
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
For Arancini:
2-3 cups of Flour, in a large bowl
6 Eggs
½ cup Heavy Cream
4-5 cups of Panko bread crumbs, in a large bowl
For Spicy and Sweet Cranberry Sauce:
1 12 Oz Bag of Cranberries
1 cup of Water
¼ cup SOOC Cranberry Pear Balsamic Vinegar
¼ cup of White Wine Vinegar
½ cup Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons fresh squeezed Orange Juice
2 teaspoons Calabrian Chili Paste
1 Tablespoon Salt + more to taste

Directions

For Risotto:

In a 3-4 quart saucepan, add in the stock and turn the heat on low.

Find a large stock or sauce pot with shorter sides but a 10-12 inch base. This will give you lots of surface area to cook you risotto and help prevent an overcooked and mushy risotto. Heat up half of the Mushroom & Sage Olive Oil, when hot, add in the mushrooms and saute until all the water has been removed from the mushrooms and cooked off.

Add in the rest of the Mushroom & Sage Olive Oil, the shallots, and the garlic. Saute until the shallots and garlic start to brown, about 1-2 mins.

Add in the rice and sage, cook until rice starts to become transparent, 1-2 mins, make sure you’re stirring constantly to prevent burning. When rice starts to become transparent, add in white wine and deglaze the bottom of the pan (scrape up brown bits on the bottom of pan).

When rice is mostly evaporated, add in ⅓ of the stock, about 2-3 cups, and turn heat to medium-low.

Stirring every couple of minutes, cook the risotto until almost all of the stock has evaporated, then add in 2-3 more cups of stock.

Repeat steps until all stock is incorporated into the risotto. Once the rice is done and not crunchy, turn off the heat.

Add in butter and mix to melt, add in all cheeses and mix until incorporated. Add in salt and pepper and mix, add more salt if needed.

Spread risotto onto a sheet pan and let cool in fridge for at least 4-5 hours or overnight.

When cool, form into smooth, 1 inch diameter balls. You can use an ice cream scooper with the release lever to make even balls more efficiently.

For Arancini:

Crack eggs into a medium/large bowl, whisk eggs together with heavy cream.

Drop 3-4 risotto balls at a time into the flour. Roll them around and coat with flour. Then move them to the egg mixture and coat with eggs. Let any excess eggs drip off and move balls to the bread crumbs and coat with bread crumbs.

Repeat for rest of the risotto balls.

When ready to serve, fry the balls at 350℉ until golden brown.

For Spicy and Sweet Cranberry Sauce:

In a medium saucepan, add in the cranberries and the water. Cook down on medium to high heat until cranberries become soft and most of the water is gone, about 10 minutes.

Using a hand blender, blend the cranberries in the pot and then pass through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl to remove any of the fibrous solids.

Rinse out the saucepan and add the cranberry sauce back in and turn to medium/low heat. Add in the vinegars and stir to mix. Add in the brown sugar, soy sauce, orange juice, and the Calabrian chili paste and mix to combine. Add in salt and taste, add more if needed.

Let cool before serving.