YUM! How to Make Jason’s Sausage & Mushroom Risotto
(December 3, 2011)
During my young-adult-living-in-Atlanta-days I had the very good fortune of meeting a guy named Jason Bolte. We had a mutual close friend, Joanne, who had just bought a funky house downtown and needed roommates to help cover the mortgage, bad. We both leaped at the chance to move in with her; Jason had just moved to town for an unpaid internship at a video game company, and I was in a bit of a slump touring-wise. As I scrambled for odd jobs on Craigslist and plotted my next move, I was thrilled to be able to say that I wasn’t living with my folks and mean it.
Once Jason and I moved in, Joanne retired from her career as an overqualified sign maker (at the ripe old age of 23) to pursue art and self actualization. We were a pretty hilarious trio; we sat on the porch drinking cheap beer and giggling at the bourgeois neighbors, competed to see who would cave in and turn the furnace on first in the winter (loser had to buy the winner a space heater) and developed a pretty stellar bar trivia team, if I do say so myself.
In spite of the lack of funds that resulted from our self-imposed bohemia, I will say this: we ate well, damnit. Credit for that miracle goes entirely to Jason who at some point prior to moving in with us learned to cook really well for really cheap. Within hours of his arrival he surmised that, left to our own devices, Joanne and I would survive on a diet of oven nachos, avocados and packaged soups, and my best guess is that he took pity on us. Several times a week he would cook large, creative, delicious meals for us to share.
We don’t live together anymore, but we’re all still very close. Whenever I’m in Atlanta, I make time to visit with Jason and blink at him pathetically until he cooks me something (I’m kidding, he usually invites me. Usually). And by ‘something’ I mean one, creamy, flavorful, steaming, satisfying thing: Sausage & Mushroom Risotto.
The first time he offered it to me, I almost passed because I had never been a big fan of sausage. However, not wanting to be rude (or hungry) I accepted a bowl of it and I have been obsessed ever since. It’s gotten to the point where Jason doesn’t bother asking what I want him to cook, and it is even known among our friends: if I’m in town and Jason’s cooking, it’s going to be the sausage & mushroom risotto.
Jason is now a professional video game writer and has accepted a new job in Baltimore, so last night we got together for one last Sausage Mushroom Risotto throwdown in his quaint carriage house in Little 5 Points. Jason had to buy a new tub of rice for the meal and, not wanting it to go to waste, decided to leave it with our friend Ming. As he cooked he told her how to make the recipe step-by-step and, with his blessing, I’ve decided to post it here, in spite of the fact that I have never, ever in my life written out any sort of recipe.
Here goes.
FIRST: A note about proportions.
Jason’s Delicious Sausage Mushroom Risotto makes great leftovers and it is my belief that anything that requires this much stirring should last a good long while. I therefore will recommend 3 cups of Aroborio rice and 9 cups of chicken broth, which yields enough Risotto to feed 4 very hungry people once, including seconds, and still leave you with several servings worth of leftovers. Should you wish to make more or less, however, just make sure you use 3 cups of chicken broth per every 1 cup or Aroborio rice and you should be fine.
INGREDIENTS:
2 Sweet Onions, diced
Fresh sliced mushrooms (1 package)
A Tube of Cheap Sausage (Jason recommends Jimmy Dean)
Shredded Parmesan Cheese (generic brand, one tub)
Olive oil (a generous splash)
Butter (a hearty tab)
Chicken Broth (72 oz)
Aroborio Rice (3 cups)
**Optional:
Joanne (to introduce you to the cook)
Ming (to offer commentary and help stir)
Red wine (to drink with Joanne & Ming)
THE PROCESS:
1.) In the bottom of a 2 quart(ish) pot, saute 1 of the diced onions in butter and oil. Once the onion turns translucent (Jason told me that the term for this is “sweat the onion” but I don’t believe him and I’m not going to look it up) add rice. Toss the rice around in the oil, butter and onion for a few minutes until the grains become sort of golden brown.
2.) Stir and stir some more. VERY gradually add chicken broth, allowing a few minutes between each addition for the rice to soak up the moisture. When the rice begins to feel dry/resistant, add a little more. Keep going. Be patient. Recruit a friend and take shifts. The more time you give this step, the better it will taste, promise.
3.) Keep stirring! Bored yet? Think of it as exercise to work off all of the delicious risotto you are about to eat. Engage your core…
4.) When you’ve added about half the chicken broth, melt some butter in a skillet and saute the rest of the onion. When it becomes translucent (sweaty? Really?) add sausage. When the sausage begins to brown, add the whole carton of sliced mushrooms. Let that simmer on low/medium heat.
NOTE: If you have a friend nearby, I recommend tricking them into stirring the rice while you’re doing this step although, if you are skilled/motivated/stubborn enough it can be done solo.
5.) Once the rice has absorbed all the chicken broth, give it a little taste and see if it is completely soft to chew. If it still has a little crunch (or “tooth,” I’ve been told it’s called), keep stirring over heat. Once it is totally soft to chew, dump the sausage/mushroom mixture into the rice and add the whole little tub of Parmesan cheese. Stir with a big wooden spoon, remove from heat, cover the pot and let it all sit for about 10 minutes (I NEVER want to do this because by now it smells really really good, but again, patience pays off in deliciousness).
While it’s congealing I usually steam some broccoli to serve on the side, more because I think it tastes great together and less as an attempt to atone for the creamy, cheesy, sausagey deliciousness I am about to devour. I make no apologies for Sausage Mushroom Risotto.
Aaaand, last but not least: Serve! Enjoy! If you try this, let me know how it turns out :-)
xoxo
~becca
ps: In case you’re wondering, Joanne’s culinary skills have advanced since our early days of living together; she told us last night that she now adds frozen vegetables to her oven nachos. It sounds delicious, perhaps I’ll post her recipe for that next :-)
pps: I love you guys! Team Purple Monkey Dishwasher forever!
