Receta Red Wine Risotto with Sausage and Leeks, everything’s everywhere
Soup season is over, mon mari prefers not to eat pasta (notice how nicely I phrase that) so I officially declare it ‘Risotto Season’.
If I had to choose one food to eat for the rest of my live it would be a toss-up between soup and risotto. Of course, once hot weathers arrives it would be salads….
Never mind.
Fortunately, I can now get Arborio rice here in France. When we first moved here I used to have to stock up on my annual shopping trip to Andorra (along with olive oil, sherry, banderillas and pimientoes)
Red Wine Risotto with Sausage and Leeks
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup (4.2oz, 125gr) Arborio rice (or other rice specifically for risotto – Carnaroli or Vialone Nano)
- 1/2 cup (4oz, 120ml) red wine
- 2 1/4 cups (18oz, 540ml) beef broth
- 1/2 medium leek, sliced
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1/2 cup (2oz, 60gr) Parmesan cheese – freshly grated
- Condimenti:
- 6oz (180gr) sausages, cut into 1/2″ slices
- 4oz (120gr) mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 medium leek, sliced
- 1 rib celery, roughly chopped
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 tbs olive oil
Instructions:
Heat beef broth and keep hot over low heat.
In medium saucepan heat oil over medium heat.
Add leek and sauté until transparent.
Add rice and sauté stirring, for 2 – 3 minutes until rice has white center.
Add red wine and stir.
Start condimenti.
When rice has absorbed most of the wine add a 1/3 cup of broth, stir.
When broth is almost absorbed add another 1/3 cup and continue adding 1/3 cup at a time and stirring. Before the last 1/3 cup taste a few kernels of rice. They should be just ‘al dente’ – slightly resistant to the tooth but fully cooked. If more broth is needed add it 1/6 cup at a time and waiting until almost completely absorbed.
At this point risotto will be thick but not stiff – there will still be visible liquid and it will not hold its shape on a plate.
Stir in the Parmesan and condimenti, pour into a bowl or risotto platter and serve immediately. It will continue to absorb liquid and the leftovers (if any) will be very stiff.
Condimenti:
Heat oil in a medium skillet.
Add sausages and sauté until browned and cooked through. Remove. Drain excess fat.
Add celery, carrot and sauté 5 minutes.
Add leeks, mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms are nicely browned.
Turn heat to low, return sausages to skillet, cover and keep warm until needed.
Along with being able to buy Arborio rice here, there are a lot of other things that are available now that weren’t 5 years ago – like bottled salad dressing.
I’ve been making my own dressing for years. I started making it because I couldn’t buy it.
I’ll continue to make to make my own because I like it, it’s easy, and I know what I’m putting into it.
Bread machines have gotten to be very popular here. Along with regular and whole wheat flour are lots of packages of ‘bread machine’ mixes.
I can now get Skippy Peanut Butter and Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
And I live in the middle of nowhere…..
Times are changing….
In my hometown, a little place of 300 people, also in the middle of nowhere, dairy-farm country, Wisconsin, there was a working creamery when I was a child. By the time I was a teenager the creamery had started making cheese.
Then they added ice cream.
The last time I was there I could buy the same Maille pickles that I buy here every week – along with foie gras, the pimientoes I get in Spain and Arborio rice. If you put that shop in the tourist area of a French city (or a Spanish city) it would fit in perfectly.
They still sell cheese and ice cream, of course…
They have to have something for the locals to buy,
On the one hand, it’s nice to be able to buy whatever one wants where ever one happens to be.
On the other hand it makes life a bit less interesting and exciting. There’s something to be said for anticipating an occasional pleasure
So I won’t eat risotto every day.
Last update on March 6, 2015
Red Wine Risotto with Sausage and Leeks, everything’s everywhere was last modified: March 6th, 2015 by Katie Zeller
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