Here's an old Food & Wine recipe for New Years' Eve...
Warning, I haven't made this yet, but love my old copies of F&W, which I USED to be so pleased with...
Oven-Fried Rice Balls with Gruyere
Active: 30 min; total 1 Hr
Makes about 30 rice balls
Flecked with black pepper and Gruyere, these crusty rice balls are an irresistible hors d' oeuvres. They're great for parties because they are baked rather than fried.
1 tablespoon EVOO
1 medium shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup arborio rice
2 cups water
3/4 cups shredded Gruyere cheese (2.5 oz)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (1.5 oz)
1/4 cup chopped herbs, such as thyme,basil and oregano
Salt and cracked black pepper
2 large egg whites
1/2 panko bread crumbs
1. Preheat the oven to 450f. Lightly oil a large, rimmed baking sheet. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the shallot and garlic and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Stir in the water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the water has been completely absorbed, about 10 minutes. Scrape the rice into a bowl and let cool to room temperature.
2. Stir the Gruyere, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan and all of the chopped herbs into the rice. Season the rice with salt and generously season with coarsely cracked paper.
3. In a medium stainless steel bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until firm peaks form. Stir one-fourth of the whites into the rice to loosen the mixture, then stir in the remaining whites. Roll the rice into 1.5 inch balls.
4. In a shallow bowl, toss the panko with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Dredge the rice balls in the panko crumbs and transfer to the prepared baking shed. Bake the rice balls in the upper third of the oven for 25 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Let stand for 5 minutes, then transfer to a platter and serve.
They suggest a champagne pairing - Savory Gaston-Chiquet let Cru Tradition Carrte Verte Brut NV, which has a high percentage of Pinot Meurier. I'm not big on champagne, but what the heck… If I make it, I'll look for the champagne, too.
Curious: I wonder why stainless steel bowl is recommended to beat egg whites?
= new reply since forum marked as read
Thanks for the recipe. 
I wish Food & Wine was still as good as some of the issues from 2002 to 2006, which are the ones I saved for reasons like this!
It's been a long time since I've had a rice ball. We used to buy them at a bakery place that also did take-out in our old neighborhood. Haven't been there in an age. I am making these for New Year's.
Regarding your question about the stainless steel bowl, I noticed that Alton Brown mentioned that a very clean bowl is needed to make the meringue for lemon-meringue pie. He actually went into the chemistry of it, showing the molecules and what they need to do to get the right kind of meringue and for the meringue to adhere to the lemon pie.
So my guess would be that they suggest this type of bowl since stainless is so easy to get clean.
Cher
I've never tasted them, but envisioned them as tasty as you described.
So far, I picked up fully cooked fairly nice sized shrimp, so this would be great.
And, a tasty New Year's Eve to you, Cher! 
I'm gonna test this out!
I couldn't afford the champagne it was paired with (once I checked out that it ws $125/bottle!!!)
However, the only thing I noticed was how I ran out of panko and parm to dredge (easily addressed at the end as you're rolling this little balls up and dredging them.
I'll do this one again!
Happy New Year!
