Arancine of Millet 

Millet is a naturally gluten free grain that is rich in iron so I try to eat it as much as I can because I am always in need of some extra iron 😉

Today I decided to make some cheerful and tasty arancine of millet, getting a little inspiration from the classic Italian arancine with white rice.

As Elisa, our nutrionist, explained me this week, to absorb iron that comes from a vegetal source, it is important to combine it with yellow, red or orange vegetables, rich in Vitamin C.

So I prepared a delicious pepper sauce to go with the millet arancini.

STEP 1

Wash the millet grains under fresh water until the water gets clear, with no more residues. Millet does not need to soak. Take a large pan, add 4 tablespoons of olive oil and the millet. Put the pan over medium heat and let the millet toast of a couple of minutes, stirring it gently. Add the hot water, a pinch of salt and let it cook over low heat.

When ready, turn off the heat and put the millet in a large bowl to cool down.

STEP 2

Take a dish and pour enough corn bran to cover up 8 small/medium size arancine.

When the millet has cooled down, add the eggs, the parmigiano regiano, the pecorino romano and start mixing with your hands.

You can add also some fresh herbs if you like them. I used some fresh thyme and made half with it and half without as I had a friend coming over for lunch and wanted to give her the possibility to choose how she liked it.

Form small balls with your hands and then gently put them in the dish and let the corn bran stick all over it.

Repeat the same procedure until you have finished the whole mixture.

I didn’t add extra salt because my pecorino romano was salted enough for me, so please taste yours and see if you need to add a pinch of salt or not.

STEP 3

Take a large pan, add enough olive oil to fry your arancine. Put the pan over medium-high heat and add the arancine. Once one side has turned golden brown, flip it gently and cook the other side the same way.

When ready, put them aside.

Let’s prepare the sauce now.

STEP 1

Wash the peppers. Cut them in small pieces and put them in a large pot with 4 table spoons of extra virgin oil, 50 gr of water, 1 clove of fresh garlic cut in two, a pinch of salt.

STEP 2

Put the pot over low-medium heat and start cooking. Stir the peppers from time to time to check that they don’t stick to the pot, if they do, add a little bit of extra water.

STEP 3

When the peppers get tender (mine took about 20 minutes), turn the heat off, put them in a mixer without the garlic and mix them until you obtain a silky cream.

I did some extra sauce to save some for pasta tomorrow 🙂

Serve the arancine in a dish along with the pepper sauce.

Buon appetito !

pS the ceramic dish in the photos is by my friend and artist Eiko Maekawa.