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Try this spaghetti carbonara arancini recipe, then check out our classic spaghetti carbonara, vegetarian carbonara, penne carbonara and more spaghetti recipes.

Also check out more arancini recipes such as our classic arancini balls, truffle arancini and 'nduja arancini.

FOOD TREND: CROCCHETTE DI TAGLIOLINI / FRITTATINE DI PASTA

Carbs, beige, fried – and Italian: this Neapolitan street food is ticking a lot of trestreetnd boxes right now. Known as crocchette di tagliolini or frittatine di pasta, they date back to the 19th century and lay somewhere between a croquette and arancini but without the faff of making a béchamel or a risotto (best ever risotto recipes here, if you can be bothered). Chopped spaghetti is bound with cheese, cream, ham, at its simplest, and then rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried. What’s not to love?

We’ve taken the flavours of one of our favourite pasta dishes as inspiration – the carbonara – and added our own twist, by stuffing it with extra, oozy, mozzarella. You could use left-over spaghetti carbonara, or another pasta for that matter, or make it from scratch, as we have done. Just be sure to make plenty.

Ingredients

  • 75g mozzarella, cut into 2cm cubes
  • 50g plain flour, well seasoned
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 100g panko breadcrumbs
  • for deep frying vegetable oil
  • sea salt flakes

CARBONARA

  • 77g pack diced pancetta
  • 1 clove garlic, bashed
  • 2 egg yolks
  • crushed to make ¼ tsp black peppercorns
  • 75g Grana Padano, finely grated
  • 3 tbsp double cream
  • 150g spaghetti, broken into 2cm pieces

Method

  • STEP 1

    To make the carbonara, put the pancetta and garlic into a cold frying pan and cook for 5-10 minutes or until the fat has rendered from the pancetta and is really crisp, and the garlic is golden. Remove from the heat and discard the garlic.

  • STEP 2

    Beat together the egg yolks, black pepper, Grana Padano and double cream in a small bowl.

  • STEP 3

    Cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water following pack instructions, then drain, reserving a cup of the pasta water.

  • STEP 4

    Tip the spaghetti into the pancetta pan and add a spoonful of the cooking water to the yolk mix. Stir well, then pour into the pancetta pan and put over a low heat. Toss everything, adding a little more pasta water and cooking for a minute until the sauce is thick. Cool completely then chill for 2 hours.

  • STEP 5

    Using damp, clean hands take a piece of mozzarella and form the cold carbonara round it to roughly the size of a golf ball and put on a tray. Repeat with the remaining mozzarella and carbonara.

  • STEP 6

    Toss the arancini first into the seasoned flour, then in the beaten egg and then the breadcrumbs, so they’re well coated.

  • STEP 7

    Fill a pan no more than 1/3 full with vegetable oil and heat to 180C or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. Cook the arancini, in batches, for 2-3 minutes or until really crisp and golden, then drain on kitchen paper and season lightly with sea salt flakes.

Check out more of our deep-fried recipes

Fried Chicken Sandwich Recipe
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