Although I don't manage to watch his show as frequently as I used to,
I've always enjoyed Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet. I originally got
this recipe from his book, The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine,
published by William Morrow and Company, Inc. This particular rendition,
however, has a few personal tweaks that I've made over the years. I
think they improve it. One of the best things about this recipe, to
me, is that it's one of those that lets you get your hands into the
food. (See my
meatball recipe
to get a better idea of what I mean.)
Wash and drain the rice and place in a 2-quart saucepan which can be covered. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil, uncovered. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and cover, simmering for 20 minutes, and then removing from heat and leaving covered for another 20 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, stir into the rice the melted butter, parsley, parmesan or Romano and the beaten eggs. Gently but thoroughly blend and leave to cool.
In a skillet, saute together the ground pork and beef. Drain off any fat and cool. Add to this the diced coldcuts and cheeses, mixing all together well by hand.
With moist, but not wet hands, form a ball of the rice mixture roughly the size of a golf ball (about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches in diameter) in the palm of one hand, and, using the other thumb, make a depression as deep as the first joint of your thumb. Into this depression, place some of the meat/cheese mixture. Pull the rice surrounding the hole over the filling to cover and seal the filling.
When all of the balls have been formed in this fashion (you may or may not have a bit of filling left over), dip each ball quickly in beaten egg and then roll in breadcrumbs to coat.
Heat the peanut oil to 350° in a skillet or wok. You want the oil to
be about as deep as the radius of your finished rice balls. Fry the
rice balls a few at a time, gently turning with a spoon until light
brown all over. Drain the cooked rice balls on brown paper and keep
warm until serving.
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