Risotto Tuscana

Sometimes I like to just browse through menus of restaurants. I go back and forth between options before finally deciding what I’m going to order. That’s all fine and dandy, except for the fact that I’m not at the restaurant and probably won’t actually be there any time soon. While weird, it does give me great ideas for things to make at home. While perusing the menu of a local Italian place that gets great reviews on Yelp, I came across Risotto Tuscana: Arborio rice, Italian sausage, bell pepper, peas, mushroom, fresh parmigian, and garlic – $15. Despite the fact that my eyes rolled at the use of “parmigian” instead of just saying it has parmesan cheese, my tummy did start craving it. I went to the grocery store later that day and ended up buying Italian sausage just so I could make it. It was delicious and totally felt like I was eating at a restaurant on a weeknight. 

Ingredients

6 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon olive oil

1 red bell pepper, diced

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 white onion, diced

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup peas, frozen
salt
pepper
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
2 Italian Sausages (about 2/3 lb), cooked and sliced

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the chicken broth to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low to simmer. 

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over high heat. Saute the bell pepper for a couple of minutes. Add in the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and saute an additional 3-4 minutes. Remove them from the pan and set them aside for now.

3. In the same skillet heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Saute the onion for a minute or two and then add in the rice. Sprinkle on a little salt for seasoning. Toast the rice in the olive oil for about 3 minutes.

4. Pour in 1/2 cup of the simmering chicken broth at a time to the rice skillet. It should pop and sizzle and the rice will absorb the liquid. Stir, stir, stir. Stirring consistently will help the rice cook evenly. Turn the heat down to medium and keeping adding liquid 1/2 cup at a time. Once the liquid gets absorbed, add more. It should take about 30 minutes to add the entire 6 cups of chicken broth. Add in the peas when you add in the last of the broth to give the peas a chance to thaw and heat through.

5. Once all the liquid has been used, remove from the heat and stir in the bell pepper, mushrooms, the butter, and the parmesan. Taste, and adjust the seasonings (salt and pepper) as desired. Top with slices of cooked Italian Sausage. 

Making risotto seems intimidating. If you watch any reality food shows you know that people are always getting sent home for risotto. Risotto would be super difficult to make for large numbers of people or in a timed situation. Making it at home though? Not that difficult. The key steps are #1 toasting the rice, #2 slowly adding in liquid (we are talking turtle slow with 1/2 cup at a time until it is absorbed) and stir, stir, stir, #3 letting it “rest” by removing it from the heat and stirring in butter and cheese. A splash of heavy cream makes for extra decadence. Try making it once and you’ll quickly get the hang of it.

You’ll notice I do not add any wine to my risotto recipes. I prefer not to use alcohol in my cooking. Most risotto recipes will call for the first liquid to be added to the rice as 1/2 cup of wine. I simply use all stock.

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