Cherry Almond Arancine (Fried Rice Pudding) with Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Note: There are a couple of chill times requires so this takes some advance prep. If desired you can make the rice pudding a day before assembling the arancine.

For the rice:

1. In a 3-quart saucepan combine the milk, rice, sugar, dried cherries and salt. Bring to a simmer, stirring a couple of times, over heat that is between medium and medium high. Once it comes to a simmer, turn the heat down to low and cook with the lid on for 20 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and almond extracts.
3. Pour the rice into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and cool completely in the refrigerator. It doesn’t have to be super cold but cool enough to handle.
4. Once the rice is cooled, form the rice into a golf ball-sized ball. I used a slightly heaped 1 ½ ounce scoop (keep a bowl of water nearby and wet your hands to keep the rice from sticking to them). Flatten the ball out in the palm of your hand to make a disk, now cup your hand so that the rice makes a cup, put a teaspoon of cherry preserves in the center and close the rice around the preserves. Roll the rice in your palms to make a perfect ball. Place on a sheet pan and repeat to make 15 or 16 rice balls. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate the rice balls for at least an hour. There may be a little weeping from the preserves, just dry the bottoms of the rice balls with a clean paper towel before coating them.

For the arancine:

1. In a food processor pulse the almonds until they’re the consistency of breadcrumbs.
2. In a shallow dish combine the processed almonds, breadcrumbs and sugar.
3. In another shallow dish whisk together the eggs and water.
4. In yet another shallow dish combine the flour and salt.
5. The frying oil will need to be a depth of 2 inches, so choose a pan/pot where the oil will come less than half way up the sides. I like a Dutch oven. Clip a candy/frying thermometer onto the side of the pan so that it dips into the oil. Heat the oil over heat between medium and medium high.
6. While the oil is heating coat the rice balls. Start by coating a ball of rice with flour, being sure to shake off the excess, then coat in the egg wash, and finally in the breadcrumbs. Place the coated balls on a clean sheet pan or platter. Repeat until all they’re all coated. Now you have arancine.
7. I like to heat the oil to between 365 and 370 F because I don’t want the oil temperature to drop below 350 F. Add a few of the arancine into the hot oil (a kitchen spider works well for this) being sure not to over crowd the pan. Cook for about 1 ½ minutes, turning over the arancine a couple of times to achieve even cooking. When the arancine are a deep golden brown on all sides use the kitchen spider and remove them from the oil to a dish that has a layer of paper towel. Repeat the process and finish frying all of the arancine.

Arancine can be eaten hot or at room temperature, but are really best served the same day that they are cooked.

Serve plain or with chocolate dipping sauce.

For the chocolate dipping sauce:

1. Combine the heavy cream and instant espresso powder in a medium saucepan. Heat the cream over medium heat but make sure that it does not come to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, break the chocolate into small pieces into a heat proof, medium bowl, and add the corn syrup as well.
3. When the cream is hot, add it into the bowl with the chocolate and whisk until smooth.

Serve as a dipping sauce or over ice cream. Leftovers can be refrigerated, but will need to be reheated. A touch of cream may be needed to thin it out.