Baked Rice Balls

By Astrid

Italian Dish from Sicily

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• Spices to taste (rosemary, thyme, oregano, Majoram, garlic, etc)
• 1 TBSP chopped parsley
• 6 cups cooked rice, hot
• 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• All-purpose flour (1 to 1 1/2 cups)
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups fine dry bread crumbs
• 1 can (8 oz) tomato cause

Details

Servings 7
Preparation time 90mins
Cooking time 120mins

Preparation

Step 1

1. Brown ground beef with onion in a skillet. Add tomato paste, stir, and cook 5 minutes. Add water, salt, pepper, and all spices selected and parsley. Mix well and cool about 15 minutes.
2. Combine rice, cheese, butter, 1 cup flour and 2 eggs. Mix until buitter is melted and ingredients are well blended.
3. With well-floured hands, shape some rice into a small ball. Flatten slightly (like a bird's nest) and top with 1 Tbsp of the meat mixture. Top with more rice to cover meat, and make into a ball the size of a small orange.
4. Hold the ball over a shallow pan filled with about 1 cup flour; add more flour when needed. Sprinkle rice ball with flour while gently packing and turning in the palm of hand.
5. Carefully dip ball into beaten eggs, then roll gently in bread crumbs to coat. Repeat with remaining rice. Place finished rice balls in a jelly-roll pan or baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
6. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. While rice balls are baking, stir tomato sauce into leftover meat sauce and heat. Serve sauce over baked rice balls.