Italian Sausage & Fennel Risotto

So on a whim - I decided I wanted to use up my leftover Italian sausage and make risotto with it... started brainstorming on what I thought would go well with it and I thought - fennel and apples! So I set out to get a few extra groceries and stop by the wine store to pick up a nice dry white to go with it and came home to create my dinner.

Italian Sausage & Fennel Risotto

Ingredients:

1/2lb Italian Sausage (i used 2 links)
1 large bulb of fennel, cored and thinly sliced; reserve some fronds for later use
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small honeycrisp apple, diced into small bite size pieces
2T olive oil
1T butter
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (such as pinot grigio)
3-4 cups chicken stock
1/4c pecorino romano

Directions:

1. Bring chicken stock to a simmer, and keep warm over low heat. Meanwhile, heat olive oil and butter in a large sauce pan or dutch oven over medium heat. Add shallots and cook for 3-5 minutes, until softened. Remove casings from sausage and add to the pan in chunks and cook until browned on all sides, about 6-8 minutes. Add fennel* while sausage is cooking and then add the garlic.

2. Once the sausage has cooked, add the arborio rice. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly to coat the rice evenly. Add the wine** (probably safest to add the alcohol off the heat), and stir until most of the wine has been absorbed and the pan has been deglazed.

3. Now for the fun part! DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THE STOVE. You will now need to start adding the hot chicken stock to the risotto in 1/2 cup increments. Stirring constantly until the liquid is mostly absorbed, and then adding another 1/2 cup of stock. You will be doing this for at least 18-20 minutes, but sometimes longer. I do this over medium heat. After you've added roughly 3 cups, you may want to test the rice to see if its done enough for you. You may also like your risotto more soupy, and want to add more liquid. I prefer it to be more like rice, so I like to add as little liquid as possible. Now as for the apple - I added it at three different times, to decide what I most preferred as to how much it was cooked. I think its best to add half of it toward the beginning, and then the other half when everything is almost done. That way you get a little bit of crunch from the apple in the risotto. Its really up to you, but the pieces are small, so it doesn't take long to soften them up.

4. Once the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is done, pull off the heat and add the pecorino romano and chopped fennel fronds. Let cool for a few minutes to set up and serve warm!

* if you've never worked with fennel before, its a lovely vegetable! It smells like fresh anise when its raw, and then when its cooked it has a very delicate, subtle sweetness to it thats just delicious. You will want to cut off the stalks and then halve the bulb lengthwise and remove the core and outer layers that may be dirty and tough. Then you can thinly slice it. Fennel is similar to slicing an onion.

**As for the wine, I used an Italian varietal - Ruffino Orvieto Classico. It had a very crisp, clean, fresh taste and was nice and dry with subtle herbal and floral notes with a bit of a pear taste to it. I thought it would go well with this dish, and it did. I also enjoy it on its own! I tend to prefer to cook with wines from the region the dish would be from.. I think risotto - Italy!

Ok so thats my corny two cents. I enjoyed the meal and will enjoy the leftovers. Unfortunately it was a dish I had to make alone since my boyfriend is a selective vegetarian!

submitted by LAUREN!