Red pepper risotto with Italian sausage
November 13, 2008 by Cyndi Lavin
Filed under Recipes
Making risotto is not the basis of a thirty minute meal. Nonetheless, it is delicious and comforting in a way that just can’t be achieved by boiling up some instant rice. Yuck! It is actually the perfect dish to introduce during, November, our month of Comfort Food 
Here are the basic directions for risotto, and I’d suggest just reading through them if this is your first time so that you understand how the process works. The directions below are a bit abbreviated, so check the link above if anything doesn’t make sense.
Red Pepper Risotto with Italian Sausage
5 c (40 oz) chicken broth
1/2 lb sausage
Olive oil
1/2 c onion, chopped
2 red bell peppers, chopped
1-1/2 c arborio rice
1/3 c white wine (non-alcoholic cooking wine is fine)
1/2 t salt
Parmesan cheese, fresh
Bring the broth to a simmer and keep it warm. Brown the sausage in a large skillet or stock pot. Remove sausage and brown the veggies. Remove veggies and drain fat. Set both the sauage and veggies aside. Add some olive oil and heat. Add the dry rice, stirring and heating for a minute or so. Add the wine and salt; cook one minute stirring constantly. Add the broth, 1/2 c at a time, stirring constantly until each portion is absorbed. This usually takes at least 20 minutes. Add sausage and veggies back in and heat through. Top with grated or thin sliced cheese to serve.
Image: Cyndi Lavin
Minor comment: cooking wine is still alcoholic — it is generally very low-quality sherry or rice wine with salt added as a preservative (also making it highly unpalatable by itself).
Rissotto is the first type of dish I taught my older sons to cook when they went off to Uni and flatting. It is so versatile. tasty and nutritious. They could make it with whatever was at hand and inexpensive.
Only I’ve been calling it a pilaf (?)
Cyndi, you’ve taught me to make rissotto and now you’re teaching me how to dress it up. Thanks so much for the (free!) cooking lessons.
Now I just have to learn to spell it
1 s, 2 ts
risotto!
This sounds like a wonderful fall meal. Comfort food to the max:)