Italian Sausage, Red Pepper, and Mushroom Risotto

Oh, risotto. You are so delicious. If only I didn't have to stand and stir you the whole time you cooked.

But I will, because you are delicious.

This risotto is a good main dish for a cold day. Excellent comfort food--not low-fat!

5 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp butter
8 oz Italian sausage, casing removed (or use ground sausage)
3/4 cup finely chopped onion (I used a red onion but I think yellow would be better)
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
4 oz white button mushrooms, coarsely chopped. I do not like the texture of mushrooms, but the last time I made something and left them out the recipe was noticeably missing something. Since it's purely a texture thing I decided to chop some mushrooms up really really really really really really small and try it out. I think they were a good addition, but I'd not include the whole 4 oz next time. Maybe 2 was enough.
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
3/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp chopped Italian parsley as a garnish, if desired

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. Cover the broth and keep warm over low heat.

Now, that is how you are SUPPOSED to make risotto--warm the broth and add it warm to your rice. I, however, am lazy and don't want to dirty another pan, so I usually warm it in the measuring cup and add it that way. It's not as warm as it should be, but it's warmer than room temperature. I'm sure this causes great damage to the risotto, but it always tastes fine to me.

You do what works for you.

In a large heavy saucepan or dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sauseage and saute, crumbling, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms and saute until tender, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, about 8 minutes. Season with salt & pepper.

Add the rice and stir to coat. Add the wine and simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 1 minute.

Add 1/2 cup broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 min. Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and alowin geach addition of broth to absorb before adding the next, until rice is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 25-30 minutes total. Remove from heat.

Stir in 3/4 of the Parmesan. Transfer to a servign bowl and sprinkle with parsley and remaining Parmesan.

I thought this was awesome. The little geeks refused to taste it, which really annoyed me ("it's cheese and rice! You LIKE cheese and rice!!). The Big Geek got stuck at work that night and ate some when he got home, but I don't know if he really liked it or just ate it because he was hungry. However, since I plan the meals, do the shopping, cook the meals, and clean up after the meals, I will probably make this again.

Risotto with Fresh Mozzarella, Grape Tomatoes, and Basil

The other night we had a prepackaged (gasp) side of seasoned rice with dinner, and the baby geek gobbled it up. As a result of that (and the fact that I bought a 3-pack of fresh Mozzarella from Costco), I made this for dinner last night.

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 Tbsp EVOO
2 cups chopped leek (2-3 medium leeks)
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice or other medium-grain rice (I didn't have enough so added some regular long-grain rice and it was fine, but Arborio is best)
1/3 cup dry white wine (in the future, I might double this and cut down the chicken stock to compensate)
1/4 cup half-and-half
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black papper
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
1/4 cup chpped fresh basil
5 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, diced

1. Place vinegar in small, heavy saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook until slightly syrupy and reduced to 1 Tbsp (about 4 min). Set aside.

2. The original recipe has you bring the broth to a simmer in a pan and then keep it warm so that it's warm when you add it to the rice. Or you could do this in a microwave, which is what I intended to do, except that I forgot and just added it cold. Nothing bad happened as a result. If your broth was cold (not room temperature), you probably want to warm it up a bit before using it.

3. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add leek; saute 3 minutes or until tender.
Add rice, cook 2 min, stirring constantly.
Stir in wine and cook 1 minute or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.
Stir in 1 cup broth; cook 5 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat to mdium. Add remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of broth is absorbed before adding the next (about 25 minutes total).
Stir in half-and-half, salt, and pepper; cook 2 minutes.
Remove from heat; stir in tomatoes, basil, and cheese.

Place in individual serving bowls and drizzle with 1/2 tsp balsamic syrup. (Little geeks don't always like the syrup, but big geeks do!)

This is a perfect rainy day lunch or dinner! It was not rainy when we ate it, but it was still good, and the baby geek LOVED it.

Lemon Risotto

As I've mentioned before, one of the Big Geek's favorite flavors is lemon. Because of that, I try to find recipes that use lemon to test out on him. I figure that at least he'll like SOMETHING about it.

This recipe came from Real Simple, and for the most part, it is. However, I should have read the entire thing before beginning, because I thought I'd be able to pour in the broth and walk away, which was NOT the case.

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup (4 oz) grated Parmesan (I used Asiago because that's what I had, and it worked, too.)
Zest of 1 lemon, grated (I used zest of 1/2 lemon) as garnish
Chopped flat-leave parsley as garnish

Melt 2 Tbsp of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat (at this point, life interfered with cooking, and my butter got browned, but it still worked). Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 min.

Reduce heat (just realized I missed that part of the instructions), add wine, and cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid is absorbed.

Add broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring occasionally and waiting until it's absorbed before adding more. This should take about 30 minutes total (entire recipe should take 45 minutes total). The rice should be tender but slightly firm.

Remove from heat. Add lemon juice, salt, pepper, Parmesan, and the remaining butter and stir until butter melts.

Spoon into individual bowls and sprinkle with lemon zest and parsley. Or be lazy like me and stir the zest and parsley into the pot and serve.

I thought this was good, and the Big Geek ate it. The Little Geek, who I thought would love it, just played with it, but the Baby Geek (who now gets some table food) really enjoyed it.

I will make this again when I know I have 45 minutes to devote to it.