Asparagus and Sausage Risotto

Whenever I mention to people that I love making risotto, they always give me this look and say "Well isn't that really time consuming" or "Wow, you must REALLY like to cook." Well yes, I do like to cook, and yes, this is no insta-meal. However, it only takes about 30 minutes if you're just patient and know what to look for. So to prove to you that I'm right (because I am) I spent extra time taking step-by-step photos.

Of course, I did all this before I realized that Pioneer Woman was going to post something so similar (and with much prettier photos). Her risotto looks quite tasty as well. Mine will show portions for two and also what to do if you're adding extra ingredients. It also has about a bajillion photos (and thanks blogger for making uploading and positioning pictures a real pain). Note: You can apply these guidelines to any kind of risotto. For the most part, just add your pre-cooked ingredients to the end. Want some other risotto ideas? See here.

Also, if you know how to make blogger do expandable post short-cuts without making it add "Read More" links to all previous posts, PLEASE let me know. It's been driving me crazy.

Okay, so here it goes! Click here to dig in!

The line-up!

Asparagus and Sausage Risotto

Serves 2

1/2 cup arborio rice

2 - 3 cups chicken broth

1 TBS olive oil

1 large shallot, chopped fine

1 - 1 1/2 cup asparagus, steamed and chopped into 1" pieces

1 link pre-cooked chicken sausage, sliced thinly

1/4 cup frozen (or fresh) peas

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 TBS butter

a splash of light cream

salt and pepper to taste

1) Pour chicken broth into a small sauce pan. Bring to a simmer. Lower heat, but keep warm. We're going to be adding this to the risotto as we go along.

2) Heat oil in a medium sauce pan, over medium heat, until it shimmers.

3) Add shallots to the hot oil. You can use onions instead, if you'd line, but I'm starting to have this love affair with shallots because they have this delicious subtle sweetness to them.

Sauté until translucent.

4) Add risotto to the pan. Stir until coated. This slows down the absorption process and gives the rice a slight nuttiness.

5) Add white wine to deglaze pan. Stir until most of the wine is absorbed. The rice should start to feel a little sticky.

6) Okay, now we're going to start adding the broth. I usually add the most at the beginning and then smaller amounts as we go along. I usually start with about a cup of broth.

Now we're going to start stirring. According to many risotto experts, one needs to be stirring "constantly." I usually stir more like "often." You do sort of need to hover near the stove and keep an eye on things, but you don't need to be stirring every second.

You want to keep your eye on the heat level. I usually leave it at this low simmer over medium to medium-low heat. You don't want the rice to absorb too quickly/boil off the liquid or it won't really cook right. And hey look, I'm not stirring!

This is what the rice will look like about 10 minutes in. See how it's starting to puff up and turn opaque? If you tried a grain right now it would be still mostly raw and kind of crunchy. You'll also notice there's very little "creaminess."

See how the liquid is being absorbed and starting to make the rice kind of creamy? You'll notice when you stir that the mixture will feel thicker and the rice will start to stick a little to the bottom and sides of the pan. Time to add more broth!

I added about 1/2 - scant 1 cup of broth. Depending on the brand of rice you get, you may need more broth, you may need less. Same deal if, say, you had the heat on too high when you started. So I usually try to keep an extra cup of broth handy. Hot water will work in a pinch.

Let's take another look at the risotto itself. We're not about 20-25 minutes into the cooking process. See how it's softer and we're starting to get that "creaminess" from the starch that's been released from the grains? Lets give it another stir...

Most of the liquid has been absorbed and there's more of that creaminess in the pot. If you try a bit now, it should be a little too "al dente" meaning almost tender, but with a bit too much of a crunch. Right now, we want it to be tender and firm, sure, but not crunchy. However, this point in time heralds the coming of additional ingredients!

*Trumpets Sound!*

Add another 1/2 cup of broth (sorry about the flash folks)

6) Time to add the asparagus...

... chicken sausage...

... and peas!

Now we stir it all together. Isn't all that green pretty? This is going to cook for another 5 -10 minutes. You'll need to be a little more active about stirring now because there's so much stuff going on in here. I usually add whatever last splash of broth I have leftover to this beautiful mess.

Let's get another close up. The rice is opaque, soft, and now, if you taste it, tender. It should still have a firmness to it, a bit of chew, but it shouldn't be crunchy. Now just watch the amount of liquid in the pan. You don't want risotto soup.

Ah, perfect. There's some liquid left, but it's thick and kind of creamy. Don't worry if it's not super "creamy." Much of that will come from adding the cheese and, well, cream.

7) Turn off the heat and add salt and pepper.

8) Now we add that tablespoon of butter. Stir until melted and incorporated.

9) Then we add the cheese. And stir. Now. We could stop here. It will be plenty creamy and delicious, but I just happened to have some cream sitting around, all lonely like, in my refrigerator, so why not.

So lets add a splash of cream. Like 1/2 tablespoon. You really don't need it. But it's tasty.

Isn't that just gorgeous? I want to eat it. Off of my screen.

And this, this here is what it's all about. Your final product? Dreamy, creamy, cheesy, risotto deliciousness.

10) Serve it up with an extra sprinkling of parmesan. Just for good luck.

Fried Rice

The first time I made fried rice for myself, I must have been in early highschool. Home on a half day, I was hungry for something different than canned soup, mac and cheese, or the deli meat in the fridge with questionable expiration dates (it seemed to be policy in my house to ignore food after it was put in the fridge and if it wasn’t eaten in due course, hope it would just go away on it’s own). We had some leftover chinese food, some frozen peas, a log of kosher salami (expiration date: safe!), soy sauce, eggs and seasonings. From whence sprang an un-traditional fried rice concoction, but a tasty one nonetheless.

If you are looking to make something more authentic (or as authentic as Chinese restaurant style cuisine can be), you can certainly go for more Asian flavorings and vegetables: bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, bok choy, snow peas, five spice, teriyaki. But you are not limited by those flavors to say the least. The best thing about fried rice is that it’s a great vehicle for revitalizing leftovers.

For the first time ever on this blog, we have step-by-step photo instructions! I usually do not have the patience or dexterity for this, so no guaruntee that this will be a constant feature (and my apologies if some of the photos are blurry). But this is one of those dishes that when friends tell me they can’t cook, I say “Anyone can make fried rice.” The other thing anyone can make is quesadillas, but even I never had a homemade one until college, so I give people a break on that one. Once I figure out how, I will put this behemoth of a post behind a quick cut.

Here you can see the ingredients that I used all laid out. These should all be approximated based on your own leftover situation:


Fried Rice
Serves 2
8/10

1 1/2 cups leftover white rice
1 cup mixed frozen veggies, chopped (not chopped in photo)
1/4 cup red pepper, chopped
2 TBS soy sauce
1 egg
1/3 lb cooked chicken, chopped (not chopped in photo)
1/2 tsp garlic salt and other seasonings, to taste
cooking spray

In with the soy sauce I mixed other ingredients that are often used in Asian-flavored dishes, such as seasame oil, rice wine vinegar, dry white sherry or rice wine, and ginger. This is entirely arbitrary. While I would recommend using soy sauce, you could easily replace it with teriyaki, stock, even barbecue sauce (though that would be quite adventurous). I would recommend some sort of liquid to prevent the rice from totally drying out and to give the rice a more concentrated flavor.

Have all of these ingredients ready to go mise-en-place style. It’ll make the process go a lot faster.

1) Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray.


2) Add chopped veggies to the skillet and cook until tender (about 5 minutes if your veggies are totally frozen).

3) Add leftover rice to skillet and toss to combine. Sauté rice for about 5 minutes, until slightly brown at the edges.


4) Add cooked chicken to the skillet. Toss to combine.


5) Add soy sauce mixture, garlic salt, and other seasings to skillet. Toss until rice is thoroughly coated. Cook for 5 minutes, allowing flavors to mingle and some of the liquid to absorb.

6) Beat the egg in a separate dish.

7) Add beaten egg to skillet. Stir immediately and constantly until egg is scrambled and cooked, about 1-2 minutes. Toss to combine.

8) Remove from heat and serve!

And this can be used with any meat, veggies, and flavors. My one rule is: have fun with it and don’t make too much work for yourself. With entirely leftovers, this can be made in 20 minutes.