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- Arancine encore → on LIPARI ISLAND
Arancine encore → on LIPARI ISLAND
archestratus arancine part two
Paige Lipari
July 21, 2026
WHAT IS INSIDE THIS LETTER?
the latest a cooking class a list of flavors a beurre blanc vid | recipes for garlic scape pesto, basil pesto, beurre blanc + toum more deleuze via arancine + piu! |
T H E
L A T E S T
No. 1 → Missives are twice a month, mid month, and the next one will go out for subscribers on August 11th. | No. 2 → |
LAST CUTIES STANDING
No. 3 → | No. 4 → |
goodbye big beloved things
No. 5 → | No. 6 → |
upcoming events
SUNDAY AUGUST 2 / LIPARI ISLAND Book Club
SATURDAY AUGUST 22 / Archestratus Hang at the Greenmarket
SUNDAY AUGUST 30 / A cooking class on Arancine
online class alert
click pic to sign up, $44 on zoom
a list of some arancine flavors
“Burnt Ends” Pork + Mozz | Rib + Mozz Ricotta Salata + Arugula + Provolone |
ARCHESTRATUS
ARANCINE,
survival mode,
+ the
plane of immanence
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Some recipes hold concepts.
Arancine are where abstract flavors go to play in the sand. An arancine can give shape to our chaotic list of kitchen leftovers, and consistency to our menu.
Foods that can hold concepts must start with a strong base for this experimentation to stand on. I can tell you the Rice recipe from last week was instituted to stand on its own, like a frozen lake or a canvas. My recipe for arancine rice has a lil more cheese and egg than generally called upon, and a less common method for forging a crunchy shell.
One could say each new arancine flavor generated is like a sandcastle: the white pork fat left behind after roasting, the fennel on its way out, the forgotten zucchini. Something formless takes shape, however brief.
You just scrolled past a long list of flavors. As delicious as these all were, I do not feel as though the arancine we served ever reached their creative potential because, to be honest, my psyche wouldn’t even let me access it.
I could probably sit here and come up with arancine flavor combinations that sound so much more creative than the ones above. When you are in the thick of running a bookstore and a kitchen and an events program, your playground is pretty paralyzed. The doomsday clock is always ticking.
Why am I choosing to talk about this? Know it is not to gain sympathy or beat myself up. I could go on and on about how arancine makes a great canvas for flavor, how it utilizes every ingredient in the kitchen you have to use up, or how about the element of surprise and delight it conjures (one day I might actually write about this), but the deeper truth is that I know so much was left on the table.
It’s funny, being paralyzed in survival mode can sometimes lead to very strange mishaps. For instance, I never called to add a little pepper to the arancine rice. Why? For the 8 years of running a cafe, did it truly never occur to me that there was pepper missing?
No, my subconscious knew the pepper was missing, but there was no room to change anything about the existing system.
Granted, I was a highly functioning case. We often paired arancine flavors at special author events based on their cookbooks. Like this:
 This one was Thai noodle inspired and filled with vermicelli, arborio, cilantro, scallions, pork, pork rinds, lotsa fish sauce, garlic, chili’s, sriracha and more for Andy Ricker’s POK POK Noodles Recipes from Thailand and Beyond |  This one was for an event with Adeena Sussman’s Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors From My Israeli Kitchen: A Cookbook |
I know, I know! Yum, though I think I was under the delusion that these breaks in the norm would form paths back to my creativity, an escape route from the siege on my spirit, but even these were ultimately tied to a highly pressurized output.
I am not trying to take away anyone's enjoyment, or even my own, of these delicious memories, but the numb rigidity I felt is all part of it, too. Months after closing the shop, I’ve been able to temporarily turn off the programming for the first time in a decade. Getting back to the playground is fairly simple now: I just have to record a little ‘Nonna Echo’ or write a poem or terrorize Shelley.
So, why am I writing this?
I want you to take this recipe for arancine rice and have a BLAST with it. I am calling on you to let your mind wander and allow your ideas to play together. Experiment. Arancine has infinite potential. Recognize it. Luxuriate in it. There are no rules. There is nothing to defend! Just because the road isn’t traveled doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go down it. Don’t run, friggin frolic!
Just please don’t lose touch with what could be.
For a long time, our house was filled with guests on Christmas Day. It’s where I first started to make elaborate menus and try out recipes and techniques often new to me. At some point, I believe it was just a few Christmases before I opened up the shop, I decided to make an arancine for the first time.
My mind wandered until it hit on beurre blanc and poached salmon. Nothing wild, but certainly rang true, and how would I get the beurre blanc in there? I’d never heard of a Beurre Blanc Arancine. Ah, I could chill it, cut it up into cubes, stuff it into the center, and then it should melt in the arancine while it fries. Would this work? I didn’t know for sure, but was ready to attempt it.
Arancine was immediately serving as a space to disrupt habits and conduct new ways of thinking.
I realized (after the fact) that I included my Beurre Blanc recipe below because I have warm feelings for this particular arancine I never investigated until now. It was not because it was my first, but because I was skating on the frozen lake, and from it something materialized, and then we all digested it in our happy bellies.
So few things that promise to be satisfying actually are. This newsletter is one of the ways in which I have let my creativity breathe again.
Thank you for being here.
Happy one-year anniversary to paige LIPARI ISLAND.
Now, GO MAKE SOME RICE BALLZ!
T W O
T E C H N I Q U E S
(for CRIPES level subscribers only)
DISCS vs. MIX-INS
Mi dispiace, to gain access to these recipes, you must be a paid Cripes! level Subscriber. It’s $9 a month, and we are obsessed with making this thing good—especially the recipes. Upgrade your subscription here. Thank you. We hope you cook these recipes! Email if you have any questions about them.
T W O
T E C H N I Q U E S
(for CRIPES level subscribers only)
DISCS vs. MIX-INS
There are two stuffing techniques when making arancine. Or at least, there were two for us at Archestratus! Actually three, but I’ll mention that in a sec. Discs and Mix-Ins:
 Disc method where you put the filling in the center of the arancine. Very traditional and actually the only way I’ve ever seen it outside of the shop. This one is Eggplant Parm. |  A vegan mix-in with butternut squash, toum, spinach, and likely more! |
Also note that I’ve never seen how people in commercial kitchens make arancine, but this is what felt like the best way to do it. The only videos I’ve ever seen of Italian chefs doing this are standing at the counter and getting a little rice from a bowl, then a little filling, then a little cheese, and molding them one at a time. This is the kind of thing that would make me feel nutty. In general, I like doing tasks all at once and then the next thing all at once. It feels more efficient. Virgo moon.
A mix-in means mixing it all in (ingredients, sauces, cheese, etc) and not stamping them out or filling the center. You would just mix it all in, scoop, mold, and bread them. A few reasons you would do a mix-in:
You feel like it! Truly.
You are making vegan arancine. The rice is still delicious, but less cheese and egg means the rice needs more help. We used to love to smoosh butternut squash or toum through the rice to give it some more creaminess.
You have lots of little bits of things, and you want to use everything up. Throw it all into the rice for an even distribution of tiny amounts.
You are making pasta or soup-inspired arancine like Cacio e pepe or Split Pea.
The third technique would be to do both! Mix ingredients into the rice, stamp them out, add something to the center, and mold. For instance, you could flavor the rice with pesto and leave the center cheese. Or if you wanted to cook the rice with squid ink and fill the center with shrimp and buerre blanc. It’s really up to you.
a lil video
with beurre blanc
(one of our favorite things to stuff inside an arancine)
The recipe is available for Cripes! level subscribers below.
*Saute garlic scapes with an oil with a high smoke point (my favorite is this Algae Cooking oil which is extremely neutral and effective.) And don’t put beurre blanc on scorching hot food like I did or it will break! Tehe.
R E C I P E S
(for CRIPES level subscribers only)
Basil Pesto, Garlic Scape Pesto, Toum, + Beurre Blanc
Mi dispiace, to gain access to these recipes, you must be a paid Cripes! level Subscriber. It’s $9 a month, and we are obsessed with making this thing good—especially the recipes. Upgrade your subscription here. Thank you. We hope you cook these recipes! Email if you have any questions about them.
Also, if you are a subscriber or have been given a subscription, please create an account and/or log in on the site to view your recipes and more. Logging in also provides access to all of our past newsletters with more recipes.
Recipes included in your subscription:
Pane Cunzatu Sundried Tomato Paste Amogghio Domenico’s Wife Lemon Mayo Garlic Chicken Nonna’s Garlic Sauce Pine Nut Currant Sauce for Swordfish Baked Swordfish | Classic Caramel Ricotta Whippp Meringue Strawberry and Sungold Tomato Magma Sicilian Squash Vessel Enza’s Spread Lina’s Salad Potato Salad Arancine Rice | Corn Cake? Not Her Pasta Pie PIC/PEC Fried Eggplant Nonna’s Tomato Sauce Eggplant Parm Basil Pesto Garlic Scape Pesto Beurre Blanc Toum |
 |  Anne Garréta |
LIPARI ISLAND Book Club
august 2 @1p on ZOOM
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