Wild Garlic and Rabbit Arancini Recipe

Created by the team at The Salt Box, this Surrey Day, Great Surrey Menu recipe uses a raft of local ingredients and flavour to conjure up a wonderful sense of wild Surrey.

Ingredients

• 2 legs of rabbit
• 200 g Arborio rice
• 600 ml rabbit stock
• 50 g butter
• 150 g white onion
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs thyme
• Splash of white wine vinegar
• handful of wild garlic leaves (or one garlic clove)
• 40 g Parmesan
• 60 g Mozzarella
• 2 medium eggs
• 150 g breadcrumbs
• 150 g plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of pepper
• Cooking oil (for deep frying)
• For the N'Duja Mayo
• 50 g Nduja
• Zest 1 lemon
• Pinch of Nigella seeds
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 250 g mayonnaise

Preparation

1. Poach the rabbit legs in water with a bay leaf and a few sprigs of thyme, until tender.
2. Once tender, remove from the pan and allow to cool, before finely shredding the meat. Reserve the cooking liquor for your stock.
3. In another saucepan, melt the butter and gently cook the onions with a bay leaf. Season well
4. Add the rice to the pan, stirring continuously.
5. Add the veg stock a ladle at a time, adding more once all the stock has been absorbed by the rice.
6. Once the rice is just cooked through, remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
7. Add a dash of white wine vinegar, parmesan, mozzarella and finely sliced wild garlic and shredded rabbit meat. Set aside to cool completely.
8. Using your hands, form the risotto into bite sized balls.
9. Put the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs into three separate shallow bowls. Dip each prepared risotto ball into the flour, followed by the eggs and finally, the breadcrumbs. Transfer to a tray and set aside.
10. Half-fill a heavy-based saucepan with vegetable oil and heat over medium-low (until it reads 170*C on a cooking thermometer or until a piece of bread turns golden brown in the oil within 40 seconds). In batches, lower the arancini balls into the oil in batches and cook for approximately 7-8 mins, or until golden brown. Set aside on a tray lined with kitchen paper.
11. Making the N’Duja Mayo:
12. Gently fry the nduja in a saucepan, releasing as much of the flavoursome oil as possible, then allow to cool. Mix the nduja with the remaining ingredients, then refrigerate until ready to serve as possible, then allow to cool.