Hello Everybody! For today’s recipe I’d like to share this delicious spicy sausage risotto. The spicy sausage adds a lot of flavor to each bite of the creamy risotto. If you don’t like spicy, switch the hot Italian sausage for regular sausage. Still tasty!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Arborio Rice
• 4 Italian Hot Sausage, casings removed
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 cup Pecorino Cheese, grated
• 3 Tbsp. Butter, unsalted
• 1/2 cup White Wine, like Chardonnay
• 6 cups Chicken Stock
• 5 Tbsp. Marinara sauce
• Salt and Black Pepper, to taste
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Begin by heating the chicken stock in a pot and keeping it hot without boiling.

Meanwhile, add a large drizzle of olive oil in a deep skillet or dutch oven. Once hot, add in the sausage. Stir frequently, breaking the sausages into small crumbled pieces and allowing to cook through.

Add in the shallot and fry for about a minute or two over medium-high heat.

Add in the arborio rice and give it a quick stir, until the rice is fully coated with the shallot and sausage mix.

Once the arborio rice is fully mixed with the sausage and shallots, pour in the white wine. Allow the alcohol from the wine to evaporate and let the flavors of the wine absorb into the rice for about two minutes.

Add in the marinara sauce and mix together.

With the heat on medium/low, start off by adding three ladles of chicken stock (or one cup) into the rice and sausage skillet and allow the rice to slowly cook and absorb the liquid, stirring often. Once you notice the rice is becoming dry, add two more ladles of chicken stock. This is a slow cooking process that requires small amounts of chicken stock to be added while stirring often to ensure that the rice does not stick to the skillet or burn. Continue adding chicken stock once the rice is mostly dry until you notice the rice is soft and cooked through. Be mindful of the packaging instructions, this will help you gauge how many minutes and liquid is required to cook the arborio rice.

After adding the last ladles of chicken stock, also add in the butter and mix until melted.

Lastly, add in the freshly grated pecorino cheese. Mix thoroughly until the cheese is all melted and the risotto is creamy.

Remove from the stove top and serve. Top off with another sprinkle of pecorino cheese and enjoy. Salute! Cin cin!