Cook the rice in boiling, salted water, and when it is half cooked, drain and allow it to cool.

Place a pan over medium heat. Add the extra-virgin olive oil and butter. Once the butter has melted, add finely sliced onion. Once the onion is golden in color, add the veal, sausage, diced sweetbreads, celery and carrot.

Cook until golden, then add a pinch of cinnamon and tomatoes. Add two ladlefuls of hot stock and cook for 40 minutes over a low heat.

Place the cooled rice in a large bowl and add the juice of 1/2 lemon, eggs, grated Parmesan cheese, chopped capers and half of the sauce. Mix well.

Grease a muffin pan with butter, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, then add rice to each depression, leaving aside at least a fifth.

Make a deep hole in the center of each ball of rice, pour in the meat and cover with the remaining rice. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and dot with flakes of butter.

Bake in a 400° F oven at for about 20 minutes.

Did you know that...

Even though rice has been around in Europe since the time of Alexander the Great, it didn’t used to be consumed as food? Having to be imported from Asia, for centuries the price of rice was so high that it could only be used in small amounts as medicine or for cosmetics. Rich Roman women, for example, used a cream made with rice flour to make the skin on their faces and necks softer and brighter.

Other suggested recipes

• Arancini di riso - Rice Balls 
• Rice fritters 
• Novara Style Rice Salad