COOKBOOK: Women’s Weekly, Everyday Student Cooking
Cooking a risotto can be so overwhelming for some. It’s that sort of dish that can sometimes not turn out as well as you want it to. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.
There are 2 things I’m always focused on when cooking a risotto, one is always ensure the rice isn’t absorbing the stock too quickly and its looking dry throughout the cooking period and secondly, testing the grain of rice a few mins before the end of cooking time to see if its cooked through. These two points determine how your dish is going to turn out. If the outcome of either one of these points is negative, add extra stock or water immediately and allow a little extra cooking time.
Once you get the hang of it you’ll never turn back and you’ll be cooking the best risottos for the family
Hope you enjoy
RECIPE
Serves 4
1 litre of chicken stock
6-8 spicy Italian sausages (approx 500-600g
2 tablespoon olive oil
40g butter
2 large onions, peeled & diced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 cups (400g) arborio rice
1/4 cup white wine
Salt & pepper
180g of semi dried tomato strips
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Pre heat the grill. Place the sausages on an oven tray, prick each of them with a fork and grill in a moderate heat for approx 5-7mins on each side.
Remove from grill, slice into bite size
Add olive oil in a deep pot and fry the garlic and onion until onion is just soft. Add the semi dried tomatoes, sausages, basil, salt & pepper and rice. Mix well. Add the stock in batches, add the wine. Bring to boil and simmer for 18mins or until rice is cooked through.
NOTE: If the risotto appears to look a little dry during cooking , dont be scared to add some water to the pot. Risotto resembles a ’stew of rice’ and should have liquid when served. Also remember, rice does not cook if there is insufficient liquid in the pot.
Rice is very quick to absorb the liquid so if you have some leftover for the day after, you will see that the juices are no longer there, but it will taste just as delicious.
