Sausage Risotto

Finally, we made risotto after getting the aborio rice from holland V cold storage. Yep, not all cold storage sells this italian short grain rice since it's not really commonly used. Includes ingredients like white wine, green peas,thyme etc. stuff really exotic to me. First time doing this and I suspect that I did not use enough chicken broth hence, the taste wasn't fantastic. It took some time to cook down the broth as well and I added in a bit of water since the rice wasn't cooked well and I've ran out of chicken broth. I don't really like sausage in it and if I do try making it again, I'll probably replace it with ham or bacon. Cooking is all about improvising it to suit your tastebuds.

The recipe if you would like to try. We scaled it to 2 pax portion but it was still a bit too much rice for us. Asians really eat like birds.

Risotto Recipe (serves 2)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 (16 ounce) package al fresco® All Natural Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1-1/2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup Chardonnay or other dry white wine
• 1-3/4 cups chicken broth, low-sodium
• 1/2 cup frozen petite sweet peas

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Saute sausage and onion until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and cook until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add rice and wine; stir 1-2 minutes or until wine is absorbed.

2. Stir in 1 cup broth. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until broth is absorbed, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes. Continue adding stock, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring until liquid is adsorbed and rice is tender and creamy, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in peas and 1/4 cup Parmesan; cook 1 minute or until heated throughout. Season with 1/4 tsp black pepper. Garnish with parsley and remaining cheese. Serve immediately.