Recipe of the Week!

Sausage and Pea Risotto

I had always wanted to make risotto, but heard it was difficult and tedious. A while ago one of the blogs I stalk posted this recipe so I decided to try it. It really wasn't bad. The worst part was that I made the fatal mistake of trying to get arborio rice at Safeway instead of driving to Wegmans. Being a far inferior grocery store, Safeway didn't sell arborio rice, so I was in the aisle googling a a substitute and bought barley instead of rice. I think this made my recipe healthier and it still tasted good. So overall risotto making is pretty easy, maybe just a little time consuming. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 package of pre-cooked italian sausage, sliced crosswise into 1/4″ thick pieces
3/4 cu frozen peas
1 cu risotto rice (arborio)...I substituted barley
2 cu chicken broth
1 cu dry white wine (nothing too terribly sweet, I used a chardonnay)
1/2 lg onion, chopped
1/2 cu grated parmesan cheese

Process:
In a large pot brown sausage slices over med-hi heat with a tablespoon or so of extra virgin olive oil. Set aside browned sausage slices on a paper towel lined plate to drain off fat. In the same pot add more olive oil & saute chopped onion until translucent. Add your rice to the onion & continue to cook over med-hi heat while stirring to lightly toast the rice. Add a cup of wine & turn down heat to medium, stirring well & cook until wine is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Next add a cup of chicken broth & repeat the process…adding chicken broth a cup or so at a time, letting it cook down & then adding more. You’ll do this for about 15 minutes or until the rice is tender. Once the rice is cooked add in frozen peas & a bit more liquid if it seems dry & cook for another 2 minutes. Return sausage to pot as well as the parmesan cheese & season well with salt & pepper.