Pesto Chicken Arancini

First, make sure rice is cooked and cooled completely, preferably the day before. Then the day of making them, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Brown the ground chicken in it for a few minutes, then add the onion, 1 pinch salt, 1 pinch pepper, a tablespoon of the pesto, the dried parsley, dried basil and garlic powder. Let it all cook together for a few minutes, until the liquid has cooked off and the pan is dried. Set it aside to cool. Combine the rice, cooled chicken mixture, the remaining pinches of salt and pepper, the remaining 3 tablespoons of pesto sauce, two of the eggs and the parmesan. Stir it all together thoroughly until it really sticks together well and almost forms a dough. Set up a breading line with the flour in the first bowl, the two remaining eggs whisked together in the second bowl, and the breadcrumbs in the third bowl, followed by a large plate or platter to hold the breaded arancini.

Make little balls of the rice mixture the size of your palm and put each one through the breading procedure with the flour first, then the eggs, then the breadcrumbs. When you’ve breaded all of your arancini, set the platter in the fridge for an hour to set. Once the chilling time is almost up, fill pot with 4-5 inches of canola oil and heat it up on medium high heat. Set a deep fry thermometer in to monitor the heat and make sure it gets to and stays around 350ºF. Fry the arancini in batches of 6, with each batch taking about 3–4 minutes. They should get completely crisp and golden. Transfer them with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate as you fry them so the grease drains. Serve immediately hot and enjoy!