Risotto With Sausage And Cranberry Borlotti Beans Recipes

Steps:

• Add the butter and olive oil to a medium skillet (cast iron works great). We use nonstick for convenience at the restaurant. When the pan is hot and the butter is melted, add the garlic and then add the rice. Stir the rice and garlic to coat with the oil and butter. Once completely coated, stirring for about a minute, add some of the stock until the rice is slightly covered. Continue to add the stock slowly as the stock is absorbed by the rice. Reduce to medium heat and stir occasionally to prevent sticking to skillet.
• Once the rice has cooked for 5 to 10 minutes, add the saffron. Continue to add the stock slowly, covering the rice with stock, allowing it to absorb into the rice while cooking and then recovering the rice with stock. This process will be repeated until the rice is cooked to desired tenderness. As the saffron is slowly absorbed into the rice, the risotto will turn a brilliant yellow. If you use stringy style saffron it should all be broken down and absorbed by the time the risotto is finished. (The powder version takes less time to absorb.)
• Slowly reduce the amount of chicken stock that is added as you reach the desired tenderness, about 45 minutes. Once this magical point is reached, stir in the cheese.
• Add the sausage to a medium pot of boiling water. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes depending on size and style of sausage. (Don't pierce the sausage.)
• Place the desired serving size of risotto on a plate or pasta bowl. Garnish by sprinkling a medium circle of cheese in the middle of the risotto and sprinkle a smaller circle of parsley on top for color. Peel the sausage, slice lengthwise in half and line the boarder of each side of the risotto with the sausage. (Optionally, cut the sausage in 1/4-inch pieces on the bias and add to the risotto before plating.)

Steps:

• If using fresh beans, shell them, put them in a pot with enough cold, unsalted water to cover by about two inches, bring the water to a gentle simmer, cover the pot, and cook at a slow, steady pace until tender, about 45 minutes to one hour. Let them steep in their liquid until ready to use. If using dried beans, soak them overnight or for at least six hours, drain, then boil them in a fresh change of water untl tender. Let them steep in their liquid until ready to use.
• Put the oil and chopped onion in a medium skillet, turn on the heat to medium, and cook the onions, stirring frequently until translucent but not coloured. Add the crumbled sausage and cook it, turning it over with a wooden spoon, until it becomes coloured a rich brown all over.
• Retrieve the cooked beans from their pot, using a colander spoon or another slotted spoon, and put them in the skillet. Add one or two tablespoons of water from the bean pot, and mash about half the beans, pressing them against the bottom of the skillet with the wooden spoon.
• Cook for about a minute, turning the contents of the pot over with the spoon from time to time. Pour the broth into a saucepan, bringing it to the boil and keeping it at a slow, sputtering simmer.
• Place the heavy-bottomed saucepan where you'll be making the risotto on the burner nearest to the broth, empty the contents of the skillet into it, and turn the heat under the risotto pot to medium high. Stir, and when the beans and sausages are sizzling hot, add the rice. Stir quickly and thoroughly to coat the rice well.
• Add one cup of simmering broth, and cook the rice, stirring it and periodically adding liquid. Finish cooking the rice, stirring always and adding broth when needed, until tender but firm to the bite, about 25 minutes.
• Take the pot off the heat and do the mantecare step, swirling in the butter and Parmesan, turning the risotto over four or five times. Add the chopped parsley, salt and ground pepper to taste, stir once or twice more; transfer to a warm platter and serve at once.
• What is mantecare? Mantecare is the final step of making risotto. The word is borrowed from the Spanish for butter, mantequilla. In Italian it means to work butter or cream into what you are cooking to give it a soft consistency. In making risotto you do this when the risotto is cooked but is still steaming in the pot. Add a tablespoon or so of butter and some freshly grated cheese, and swirl them in to combine. It is the final and best touch, giving the risotto its great consistency.

Steps:

• Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, for 3 minutes. Add shallots, 1 tablespoon butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; saute until shallots begin to caramelize, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add Arborio rice and stir until it begins to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add wine and continue stirring until almost absorbed, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Begin to add broth, 1/2 cup at a time. Stir until broth is almost completely absorbed, then add another 1/2 cup and repeat. Continue adding broth until risotto resembles a thick porridge but still has some bite to it. This process will take 20 to 30 minutes.
• Remove from the heat. Stir in the sausage mixture, Parmesan cheese, and remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt if necessary. Garnish with thyme sprigs and serve immediately.

Steps:

• With the tip of a small, sharp knife, slit open the sausage casings. Crumble the meat into a wide, heavy skillet or Dutch oven, and set over medium heat. If the meat is not rendering enough fat to coat the bottom of the pan as it begins to cook, add olive oil, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the meat is frying gently, not steaming. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the sausage, and cook, breaking up any large chunks of sausage and stirring occasionally, until the meat is opaque and crisp at the edges, approximately 10 minutes. Remove sausage from pan, and reserve 1 tablespoon of the rendered fat.
• Pour the stock into a medium saucepan or pot, and bring to a low simmer.
• While the stock heats, return the heavy skillet or Dutch oven to medium-low heat, and add to it the 1 tablespoon reserved sausage fat and 1 tablespoon butter, or 2 tablespoons butter if you don't want to cook with the sausage fat. When the butter foams, add the diced onion, and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until it is soft and translucent, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add the rice, and stir until well coated, adding another tablespoon of fat if necessary. Stir until translucent, an additional 5 to 7 minutes.
• Raise the heat under the rice to medium, and add the wine to the skillet. Stir until wine is absorbed, then reduce the heat slightly. Begin adding ladlefuls of hot broth to the rice, stirring constantly and allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding the next. Cook rice until it is tender but slightly chewy, approximately 20 to 30 minutes. You may not need all the broth. You may need more than you have; if additional liquid is needed, you can use boiling water.
• Remove the skillet from heat, and add the cheese, stirring to mix it into the rice. Add the sausage to the rice, and stir again. Taste, and adjust seasonings with additional salt and pepper if necessary. Squeeze the lemon over the rice, and then mound the risotto on a large, warmed bowl. Scatter the parsley over the top, and serve immediately, with more grated Parmesan on the side.