Bacon and Leek Arancini (fried risotto balls) [Sponsored Post]

The first time I tasted the Arancini a deep-fried risotto ball filled with cheese I was at a dinner party potluck. A fellow food blogger had brought them and my partner AJ and I immediately gravitated toward them. How I lived my life without them in my life I have no idea because clearly my life was now complete having tasted them. The traditional Arancini, a Sicilian dish, is named after the Italian word for orange, which they are said to resemble. I opted to update the recipe by using Panko bread crumbs instead of the traditional bread crumbs. Panko crumbs are Japanese bread crumbs that stay remarkably crisp and crunchy even after they are fried. True, they no longer resemble cute little oranges because the bread crumbs are more jagged, but that’s OK. Once you take a bite of these, you won’t mind that they don’t look like the classic Arancini. Bounce on over to the Anolon website to get the Arancini recipe!

I’m teaming up with Anolon for six weeks to create recipes for their site for the holidays! And follow their hashtag #holidayhosting for more holiday recipes and fun! A special thanks to Anolon for sponsoring this post. I was compensated for developing the recipe on their site as well as this post and all Anolon products were provided by them. However all opinions above are totally my own and are not endorsed by Anolon.