Nettle, Wild Garlic, Black Mustard and Sea Spinach Arancini

Call me old fashioned, but for me there is nothing better than sharing a meal with my family. 

Even the process of picking, preparing and cooking it together makes it all the more satisfying when you finally get to sit down and enjoy it together with a nice cold beer or a glass of wine.

Today was exactly that 

I'm no aracini expert, despite my Sicilian heritage, but the aim is to make a dry risotto with a shit load of parmesan if you're a cheese fan like me.

I boiled the vegetables off separately, drained and chopped them

Fried the rice in butter, chopped wild garlic leaves and olive oil

Added white wine then vegetable stock gradually until the rice cooked (not having too much liquid is essential) 

Seasoned the mix a little with black pepper, salt and chopped fresh parsley, you can adjust this to your taste, chilli, paprika (smoked or not) and others work too. Again, just personal preference. 

Add the cooked, chopped up vegetables.

Then I mixed in a little double cream and a tonne of grated parmesan, put the mixture into a glass tray, score the top and into the fridge once cooled. 

Once cooled, roll into balls, whatever size you desire, remember that the bigger the arancini, the harder they are to cook as it will take a while for the heat to get to the centre of it.

Give them each two coats of breadcrumbs, sealed onto them with seasoned beaten egg.

Once your batch of arancini are panneed, heat up a deep frying pan with oil of your choice, I used recycled sunflower oil from previously making chips, on a medium heat.

Once golden brown, remove from the oil and drain, add a little salt if you need but taste them first- there's nothing worse than ruining a batch by over seasoning. 

Now for the dip, you can again use whatever you like, my sorrel and navelwort dressing compliments it well, giving it a lemony kick, although a simple lemon garlic mayonnaise or aioli works well too.  Of course if you like it as more of a completed meal, you can serve it with a red pepper veloute, especially if you have added paprika and substituted the parmesan for goats cheese, or similar and perhaps a salad but these are just suggestions and again, play around with what suits you!