Sicilian Rice Balls with Meat Sauce ( Arancine Siciliane)

This excellent recipe was created by Keith Brown. The rice balls were good but the sauce was even better!

Sauce:

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. sweet sausage( loose)

1 small onion, chopped

1 dash granulated garlic

1 C chopped mushrooms

1 C chopped green pepper

1 C grated zucchini

1 can ( 14 oz.)artichokes hearts, drained and chopped

2 cans ( 14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes

1 can ( 29 oz.) tomato sauce

1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste

2 tsp. each parsley and oregano

1T basil

1 tsp. salt and sugar 1/4 tsp. pepper

1 bay leaf

Rice balls: 3 eggs

2 1/2 C cooked Arborio rice 1/3 C melted butter

2/3 C grated Parmesan cheese

1 T parsley

salt and pepper

4 oz. mozzarella cheese, cut into 3/8" cubes

1 C dry Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Oil for deep frying

Sauce: Brown ground beef and sausage, drain and return 2 T of drippings to the pan. saute onion, mushrooms green pepper, zucchini and artichoke hearts until tender. Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, herbs and sugar. simmer for 1 hour( at this point I move the sauce to the crockpot and let it simmer on low all day). Discard bay leaf before serving. Rice Balls: Lightly beat 2 eggs, stir in rice, melted butter, Parmesan cheese, parsley salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate 20 minutes. Roll into 1 1/2" balls. Press a piece of mozzarella cheese into each ball, reshape balls. In a small bowl lightly beat remaining egg. Dip each ball into egg, then roll into the bread crumbs. In a deep fryer, heat oil to 375 degrees. Fry rice balls until golden brown, about 4 minutes, drain on paper towels. Serve with sauce.