Wisconsin was almost 50* on Saturday creating some amazing outside play time with gorgeous shining sun! We took advantage and played in the yard to shake off the winter grumps. It was wonderful. When we came inside, we were pooped and watched a movie and meal planned for the upcoming week. I don’t recommend the My Little Pony movie.
As I was reading the New York Times today, I found a tasty risotto recipe. I love risotto and so do the kids. It’s like fancy mac n cheese. It takes a long time to make, but it’s a labor of love and you can literally see the creamy goodness set up while you’re stirring.
Risotto with Sausage and Parsley

• 1 1/2 pounds sweet or hot Italian sausage
• 2 tbsp evoo
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 5-6 cups chicken stock
• 1-2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 large onion
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup packed and grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley leaves

Directions

1. In a large dutch oven over medium heat, crumble the meat out of the casing and render the fat out of it. If its sticking to the pan too much, ad some olive oil, one tbsp at a time.
2. sprinkle salt and pepper over sausage and continue to cook over medium hi heat
3. Cook meat for approximately 10 minutes, remove the sausage from the pan and set aside in a bowl.
4. Reserve 1 tbsp rendered fat from the sausage and set aside
5. Pour the stock into a medium sauce pan and bring to a simmer
6. While you heat the stock, heat your dutch oven to medium low heat and add 1 tbsp butter, reserved sausage fat. When the butter starts to foam, add the onion and cook 5-7 minutes. Add the rice and stir until coated add another tbsp of fat and stir until translucent, about 5-7 minutes.
7. Raise the heat under the rice to medium and add the wine to the dutch oven. Add ladle fulls of broth to the rice stirring constantly (I like to use a whisk for this). Make sure that the rice absorbs each ladle full of liquid before you add the next. This will take a while and a lot of stirring, approximately 20-30 minutes. You may not need all of the broth.
8. Remove the dutch oven from the heat and add the cheese and sausage. stir. squeeze the lemon over the rice and add additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve with parsley and more Parmesan cheese.
9. Yield 6-8
10. Enjoy!!!

I can’t wait to try this recipe. The New York Times has never failed me. Well, some of their recipes are quite advanced. I try to stick with things in my wheel house 🙂 Risotto is one of them:)
Have a great week + stay healthy!