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Red Pepper & Italian Sausage Risotto
Recipe |
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| Red
Pepper and Italian Sausage Risotto Recipe |
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Click picture to enlarge
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We used Cacciatore for our Italian sausage mainly because it's tasty and
available in the supermarkets. Possibly more authentic would be zampone
or cotechino but the supermarkets don't sell either. If you want either
of these try your nearest Italian deli, but the difference in taste is
not huge. The easiest English alternative, and a very tasty one, is a
couple of cooked and cooled Cumberland sausages. |
KEY POINTS
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Preparation Time: |
20 mins |
Cooking Time: |
40 minutes |
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How Difficult |
Medium |
Freeze? |
No |
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Servings |
4
portions |
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INGREDIENTS
| Ingredients |
Imperial |
Metric |
| Italian risotto rice |
10 oz |
280 g |
| Red sweet pepper |
1 medium |
1 medium |
| Cacciatore Italian sausage (see notes above) |
5 oz |
150g |
| Fresh grated parmesan cheese |
1½ oz |
40 g |
| Butter |
1¾ oz |
50 g |
| Onion |
1 medium |
1 medium |
| Celery sticks |
3 |
3 |
| Garlic cloves |
2 medium |
2 medium |
| Vegetable stock |
1.3 pints |
750 ml |
| Dried thyme |
½ teaspoon |
½ teaspoon |
| Dry white wine |
1½ glasses |
1½ glasses |
| Olive oil |
3 tablespoons |
3 tablespoons |
| Salt and pepper |
To taste |
To taste |
COOKS NOTES: Risotto is a North Italian dish and aside from the basic
risotto recipe almost anything can be added. We've made ours with sliced
Italian sausage and roasted sweet red pepper but any vegetable goes well
as does beef, ham, pork and chicken.
The creamy texture comes from adding the stock slowly over the 15
minutes cooking time - this forces the starch out of the rice. The final
touch of adding the parmesan cheese and butter is essential - cover
the dish and let it stand for 2 minutes. Warm plates help keep the creamy
texture whilst eating.
COOKING EQUIPMENT
1 medium frying pan
1 oven dish to roast the sweet pepper and cacciatore sausage
A ladle if possible but not necessary
PREPARATION
Finely chop the garlic cloves
Finely chop the onion
Finely grate the parmesan cheese
Finely chop the celery
Cut red pepper in half and remove seeds and pith
Method
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Place the red pepper halves and Cacciatore sausage on a baking tray.
Drizzle the red pepper with olive oil (we used one-cal spray olive
oil) and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place in a preheated oven at 190°C / 375°F or Gas Mark 5. |
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Put the olive oil in the frying pan and turn to a
low heat. Add the celery, onion and garlic. Cook on a low heat for
15 minutes, stirring every few minutes, to soften the vegetables but
don't brown them. Vegetables cooked this way are known as a
soffrito. |
| After the vegetables have fried, add the rice and
turn the heat up to medium. Stir for 2 minutes by which time the
rice will have become translucent.
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Add the wine to the ingredients in the frying pan and savour the delicious aroma! Stir frequently for three
more minutes. |
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Add a ladle (or a cup) of the vegetable stock and stir well.
When the liquid is absorbed by the rice add another ladle of stock.
Proceed like this for about 15 minutes adding more stock as the rice
absorbs the liquid. You do not have to use all the stock. At the end of the cooking time the rice should be moist but not
flooded. It should stack up in the pan as in the picture. Season
with salt and pepper. |
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Half way through cooking the the risotto remove the
sweet pepper and sausage from the oven. Chop the red peppers and
slice the Italian sausage. If the sausage is too hot to handle run
it under the cold tap for a few seconds to cool the outside.
Stir both ingredients into the cooking risotto. |
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When the risotto has finished absorbing the liquid it will look like
the picture on the right. Add the butter, parmesan
cheese and thyme and stir well. Put a lid on the pan and let it
stand unheated for two minutes. Whilst it is standing, warm the
plates in the oven. |
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Serve on the warmed plates and grate a little more parmesan over the top for
good luck. Serve with a green salad. Risotto will not keep for any length of time so eat
immediately. |
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