Betcha didn’t know my cousin is a chef.
My cousin, Elena, lives here in Brooklyn and is the executive chef at Bessou over at Pier 57. She has done a few videos with me before when I was at MUNCHIES (you might know her from her Tonkatsu video or when she made Japanese Curry).
Nobody ever believes us when we tell people that we’re cousins. But we are! I swear! Elena’s dad is Japanese and my dad is Iranian, but our moms are Italian and they’re first cousins!
Our grandparents were brother and sister and honestly, it’s the best having her (and one of her brothers, Koji) living here in Brooklyn with me. We often have family dinners together (usually I force them to eat / try the dishes that I make and develop for this) and Koji and I actually used to work together at Vice.
Elena and I have been talking about doing a “Cooking Cousins” video for a while and WE FINALLY DID IT!
It was hard to decide what we wanted to make. My mom put together a family cookbook a few years ago (in 2018!) with recipes from all sides of my family (her dad, my dad, my sister, ME! and many many more). Elena and I settled on a recipe from our great uncle Bern (short for Bernard): rice balls! (they’re basically arancini.)
I don’t want to spoil too much of the narrative because I think we cover most of it in the video, so get to watching that! I’ll simply say that cooking with family and loved ones and sharing recipes and stories is just the best, and you should try not to take those moments with the people that you care about for granted. Cook with your grandparents and aunts and uncles and siblings and cousins and parents and find out their secrets and watch what they do so that the magic doesn’t get lost.
And if it does? Play around with the recipes that you do have from them and make them work (that’s what we ended up doing here!).
And DANG. This recipe came out gooooooood.
Hopefully, there will be more to come! Who knows, maybe Elena and I can fly out to visit my Aunt Lorraine in Portland soon (she’ll be 95 in November!) and make a video with her. (Aunt Lorraine is the last living sibling of Elena and my grandparents— there were 5 of them total! Bern was the youngest, my grami was the oldest.)
Sausage, Oregano, and Lemon Rice Balls
Makes about 2 dozen
Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 ½ hours
INGREDIENTS
4 cups|1 liter chicken stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 small shallots, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup|215 grams arborio rice
¼ cup|60 ml white wine
½ cup|60 grams grated parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 ounces|125 grams hot Italian sausage, casings removed
4 ounces|125 grams sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 ½ tablespoons minced oregano
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1 lemon, plus wedges to serve
1 cup|145 grams all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, beaten
2 ½ cups|225 grams breadcrumbs (seasoned or plain or panko)
canola oil, for frying
marinara sauce, to serve
DIRECTIONS
Make the risotto: Place the stock in a medium saucepan over medium. Keep warm.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium. Add the shallot and cook until soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute, then add in the rice. Cook, stirring to coat, for 1 minute more. Add the wine and cook until it has absorbed, about 1 minute.
Add a ladle of stock and cook, stirring, until absorbed, then add another ladle of stock. Continue cooking the rice and adding the stock, little by little, until all of the stock has been used, about 20 minutes. Stir in the parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl to cool slightly.
Wipe the skillet clean and heat the olive oil in it. Add the sausages and cook, breaking it up into smaller pieces using a wooden spoon, until golden, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly, then transfer to a cutting board and finely chop. Add the sausage to the risotto along with the oregano and parsley. Zest in a lemon, then mix and season to taste.
Roll the risotto into equal-sized logs. Place the flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs into 3 separate shallow bowls. Working with 1 log at a time, dredge in the flour, then roll completely in the eggs. Coat in the breadcrumbs and transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining logs, then repeat a second time to double bread them all. Place the logs on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and pop them into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
Heat 2-inches of canola oil in a large saucepan until a deep-fry thermometer reads 350°F. Working in batches, fry the logs until golden on the outside, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the logs to a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt. Transfer to a serving plate and grate some fresh parmesan cheese over the top. Serve with marinara sauce and lemon wedges.
COOKING COUSINS