Calabrian Cacio e Pepe Arancini
Cheffing a 20 person cocktail party for my mom
Ryan Nordheimer•
July 7, 2026
As I alluded to in my last newsletter, I’ve been gearing up to cater a 20-person cocktail party for my mom. When I private-cheffed my friend’s mom’s birthday brunch a couple of months back, and all of her friends were gathered around the dining table eating amazing food and chatting, I realized that my mom could have the same experience with all of her friends. All she needed was for me to make a trip down to Maryland to cook all the food.
I had originally envisioned this cocktail party as actually being for both of my parents and all of their friends. But when push came to shove, my mom and I realized that it would just be easier if my dad was simply cut out of the picture LOL (he has a tendency to overcomplicate food, drinks, vibes, etc.). So with him out of the house, I took full rein.
My mom, ironically, hates hosting. But with me essentially serving as the caterer, and my cousin Lily serving as the caterer’s assistant, there wasn’t much for her to worry about. A good symbiotic relationship: I use the lovely kitchen, she uses me to make the food.
My mom barely gave me any direction with the food menu. Every morning when we talked on the phone for the past like 3 or 4 weeks I would bring up the menu and try to hone in on it somewhat, which was always met with an immediate deflection toward another topic, leaving me quite in the dark as to what I was expected to make. The menu thus became whatever fun hors d’oeuvres ideas popped into my head in the span of us sending out the Partiful and me going to the Whole Foods in Maryland.
Hope you enjoyed the party mom since I know you’re reading <3
Ryan
P.S. If you're in the DC area, my parents’ kitchen designer is Sharon Dougherty Trifilo, and you can find her website here. She’s amazing!
Hey! My name is Ryan Nordheimer. Welcome to my cooking and baking site. I’m a 25-year old home cook living in the East Village in New York City. Hopefully you enjoy my food through my own, tried-and-true recipes.
Ingredients (16)
Ingredients (16)
For the Risotto
For the Assembly & Presentation
Instructions
For the Risotto
Add the stock (6 cups) to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once at a boil reduce heat to low.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add the olive oil (2 Tbsp). Once the oil is shimmering, add the shallots (2 large). Season lightly with kosher salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are translucent, 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the rice (1 ½ cups) and cook until it’s slightly translucent in color and starts to sound like glass as it hits the side of the pan, about 2 minutes. Add the wine (½ cup) and allow it to reduce until almost completely evaporated, another minute.
Using a ladle, add about ½ cup of hot stock to your risotto and stir until almost evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes (if it evaporates too quickly, reduce heat to medium-low). Continue stirring, adding stock every minute or so, until the rice is al dente and appears creamier. This can take as fast as 15 minutes but could take up to 25, so taste as you go to avoid overcooked, mushy rice.
Stir in the cheese (6 oz), butter (2 Tbsp), and plenty of black pepper. Taste for seasoning. If the risotto feels a bit lackluster, stir in additional parmesan cheese (6 oz) or Better Than Bouillon. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dump the risotto onto the sheet and spread out. Cover with plastic wrap and let chill until completely cold and set, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
For the Assembly & Presentation
Add the flour (2 cups) to a shallow dish, the eggs (4 large) to another, and the panko (4 cups) to a third. Use a ¼ cup ice cream scoop and scoop out about a 3 Tbsp-sized amount of risotto into your palm. Form lightly into a ball. Then coat in flour shaking off excess, then eggs allowing excess to drip off, and then pack on the panko. After the panko is on, you can more easily form it back into a ball shape. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining risotto.
Add enough neutral oil to a large Dutch oven or pot to come up 2 in up the side of the pot. Preheat over medium-high heat until the oil reaches 360 °F on a cooking thermometer. Drop in arancini evenly spaced in the pot (about half of the balls). Fry for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Remove to a paper towel-lined wire rack and season with sea salt. Repeat with remaining unfried arancini. The arancini can be refrigerated or even frozen at this point and reheated from frozen in a 350 °F convection oven until hot again.
Plate the arancini by spreading pesto onto a large platter and garnishing with a teaspoon or so of chopped calabrian chili.
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