Risotto with Agricola sausage and grapes
Ingredients are very important for this recipe. You can add other ingredients as you like (for example mushrooms) but make sure they are of the highest quality. There are numerous types of rice out there but the ONLY that will give you a real risotto is Arborio. Arborio is the name of a family that started this type of rice. This is a family with deep roots in Italy and this type of rice is made exclusively in the Vercellese, the land surrounding Vercelli, which is where my grandma lived and where my mom was born and raised. So, you can imagine that in my family, when we speak of risotto we speak of Arborio, anything else falls short of our standards. The picture above shows you the rice patties in the Vercellese. They look pretty but when they are flooded there are tons of mosquitos that eat you alive - however the Vercellesi do not mind because the alternative is being without Arborio rice and that is just unthinkable! In the days when the patties are dry, the fields are an amazing garden full of different bugs, in particular the dragonflies and the fireflies make this place almost magical.
This recipe is a mix of a traditional family recipe for risotto mix with a more modern generation twist (my daughter, 2.5 years old, put her foot down and refused to eat anything that did not include grapes. So here you have it, risotto, sausage, funghi and grapes - recipe born on 5/25/2014.
Ingredients (good for 4 adults or 2 hungry farmers and a toddler)
* 1 cup dry porcini mushrooms
* 2 cups of cut fresh mushroom - whatever you get from the farmers market - DO NOT BUY old mushrooms and do not buy store mushrooms - they are like cardboard
* 1 medium size onion
* 6 cups chicken broth (you can buy our or make it from an old hen - or buy the cubes to dissolve in water- stay away from the broth sold at the store
* rice Arborio (3 small handful for each person, total 9 handful for us ... sorry ... I have no idea bout the weight or cup size... we just use handful...
* 1 Lb of Agricola mild pork sausage
* 20 or 30 grapes. We used green grapes a bit sour, not quite mature yet. Cut in halves
Preparetion:
You will need 2 pots for this recipe. The main pot will need to be big enough to old the rice and the other ingredients so choose a good size.
* place the dry porcini in 2 cups of water and let them soak for at least 10 minutes.
* in the meantime cook the sausage on medium heat in the larger pot, making sure to break it in small bits with a spoon as it is cooking
* once the sausage is ready remove from the pot and place in a dish that you will use later. Do not toss the juices left in the pot.
* place the broth in the smaller pot and bring to a boil
* cut the onion in small pea-size bits and using the juices from the sausage sauté the onion in the larger pot.
* Once the onion is just starting to become transparent, add the rice and steer continuously until the rice is coated.
* add a ladle full of water from the mushrooms paying attention not to scoop the mushrooms or the bottom of the container because there are bits of dirt that you do not want in your risotto. As soon as you add water mix everything with a wooden spoon and allow the water to be reabsorbed.
* when the water is almost completely absorbed (you will see lots of bubble forming in your pot), add a ladle of water from the broth you have been boiling. Mix a few times and let the rice absorb that water. This time it will take a bit longer because the rice has already started to become saturated with water.
* fish the porcini out of the water and cut in pieces - the size is up to you. Some people suggest to have them the size of the grain or a little bigger. I personally like to bite into my mushrooms. Just think of your fork and how you would like to look like once you go for your first bite of risotto. Also cut the other fresh mushroom of approximately the same size.
* add all mushrooms to the pot.
* continue to add water I ladle at a time till the rice is ready (I taste it to know when to stop). Note: it is a good idea to add only a little at a time once the rice is almost ready because you want to prevent to end up with a soggy risotto.
* Once the rice is almost cooked but needs a few more minutes to go, add the sausage and the grapes. warm water one ladle at the time. After each ladle you need to mix.
Enjoy your risotto.
In Italy we present it as a little half dome in the middle of a deep dish. Few leaves of parsley sprinkled on top would be a good idea in terms of presentation. I would even dare to add a strawberry cut in four and placed at the very center. To eat it we spread the risotto like a big sun over the entire plate and start eating it in spirals from the border towards the center. This allows the outside layer to get colder as you eat it while the inside remains slightly warmer.
This recipe is a mix of a traditional family recipe for risotto mix with a more modern generation twist (my daughter, 2.5 years old, put her foot down and refused to eat anything that did not include grapes. So here you have it, risotto, sausage, funghi and grapes - recipe born on 5/25/2014.
Ingredients (good for 4 adults or 2 hungry farmers and a toddler)
* 1 cup dry porcini mushrooms
* 2 cups of cut fresh mushroom - whatever you get from the farmers market - DO NOT BUY old mushrooms and do not buy store mushrooms - they are like cardboard
* 1 medium size onion
* 6 cups chicken broth (you can buy our or make it from an old hen - or buy the cubes to dissolve in water- stay away from the broth sold at the store
* rice Arborio (3 small handful for each person, total 9 handful for us ... sorry ... I have no idea bout the weight or cup size... we just use handful...
* 1 Lb of Agricola mild pork sausage
* 20 or 30 grapes. We used green grapes a bit sour, not quite mature yet. Cut in halves
Preparetion:
You will need 2 pots for this recipe. The main pot will need to be big enough to old the rice and the other ingredients so choose a good size.
* place the dry porcini in 2 cups of water and let them soak for at least 10 minutes.
* in the meantime cook the sausage on medium heat in the larger pot, making sure to break it in small bits with a spoon as it is cooking
* once the sausage is ready remove from the pot and place in a dish that you will use later. Do not toss the juices left in the pot.
* place the broth in the smaller pot and bring to a boil
* cut the onion in small pea-size bits and using the juices from the sausage sauté the onion in the larger pot.
* Once the onion is just starting to become transparent, add the rice and steer continuously until the rice is coated.
* add a ladle full of water from the mushrooms paying attention not to scoop the mushrooms or the bottom of the container because there are bits of dirt that you do not want in your risotto. As soon as you add water mix everything with a wooden spoon and allow the water to be reabsorbed.
* when the water is almost completely absorbed (you will see lots of bubble forming in your pot), add a ladle of water from the broth you have been boiling. Mix a few times and let the rice absorb that water. This time it will take a bit longer because the rice has already started to become saturated with water.
* fish the porcini out of the water and cut in pieces - the size is up to you. Some people suggest to have them the size of the grain or a little bigger. I personally like to bite into my mushrooms. Just think of your fork and how you would like to look like once you go for your first bite of risotto. Also cut the other fresh mushroom of approximately the same size.
* add all mushrooms to the pot.
* continue to add water I ladle at a time till the rice is ready (I taste it to know when to stop). Note: it is a good idea to add only a little at a time once the rice is almost ready because you want to prevent to end up with a soggy risotto.
* Once the rice is almost cooked but needs a few more minutes to go, add the sausage and the grapes. warm water one ladle at the time. After each ladle you need to mix.
Enjoy your risotto.
In Italy we present it as a little half dome in the middle of a deep dish. Few leaves of parsley sprinkled on top would be a good idea in terms of presentation. I would even dare to add a strawberry cut in four and placed at the very center. To eat it we spread the risotto like a big sun over the entire plate and start eating it in spirals from the border towards the center. This allows the outside layer to get colder as you eat it while the inside remains slightly warmer.
