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Stuck inside and on a budget? Doesn’t mean you have to stop eating delicious food. Our risotto requires minimal ingredients, is super simple and packed with flavour. Feeling adventurous? Swap out the sausage for another meat (or veg for our veg/vegan friends) to make it your own.
Adjust the quantities to cater for your party size. We've included our recipe for making chicken stock from scratch for those of you who feel like getting your hands dirty. Otherwise, any normal chicken stock will work just as well.
4-5 people
500g arborio rice
1 brown onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
1.5 L chicken stock (warm)
6-7 pork & fennel sausages (cooked, casing removed)
Handful of baby Tuscan kale (spinach will also work)
Oregano bunch
80g butter
80g pecorino
Olive oil
1.5Kg chicken bones &/or wings
3 carrots
2 sticks celery
1 bulb of garlic
3 brown onions
Thyme
3L water
500g snow peas (finely sliced)
2 eschalots (finely chopped)
Dill (chopped)
7 anchovy fillets (finely chopped)
Handful roasted almonds (crushed)
2 lemons
Extra virgin olive oil
We know what you're thinking, but using anchovies in dressings and sauces is a great way to boost flavour and add an umami taste to a dish.
The rice will make or break your risotto. We love using Arborio Rice. It's an Italain short grain rice - great for risotto due to its high starch content.
Allow a few extra hours if you want to give the chicken stock a go.
40 - 60 mins
Roast bones at 250- 300 degrees Celsius until brown
Places all veg (roughly chopped) into large pot with bones
Add water to cover all ingredients
Bring to boil, turn down and simmer until desired taste (around 4 hours)
Heat olive oil in large fry pan/medium saucepan, covering the whole base. Add onion and garlic and sweat on a low heat until translucent.
Throw rice in and turn up the heat, stirring for a couple of minutes. Add a splash of white wine in and cook it down until most liquid has gone.
Turn back down to a medium heat and begin to ladle in stock bit by bit, stirring throughout. Once the stock has basically evaporated, add more and continue this process until rice is almost al dente.
Add in sausage, oregano and kale, while still adding stock as necessary.
Crank the heat to medium-high and chuck the butter and some of the pecorino (about 60g) in the risotto and beat it through. Have a try to see if the rice is cooked perfectly and season to taste.
Stir in some more stock if required (if risotto is too thick, you want it to be fairly loose) and serve straight away with remaining pecorino.
Combine snow peas, eschalots, and anchovies in bowl.
Squeeze lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in and toss. Taste for balance.
Add dill, almonds to salad and toss together.
Adjust seasoning if required and serve.
The risotto is quite rich (mmm.. salty cheesy goodness), so we want something fresh and zesty to balance the dish. The 2019 Juxtaposed Sangiovese Rosé pairs great, think mandarin peel, raspberries, dried basil, white cherry, the white bit of the strawberry and blood orange.
