tomato and sausage risotto
Because it’s fantastic! And really, how could it not be? Mom recommends it. It’s thick, hearty, actually contains flesh (something of a rarity on this site, I realize) and enough greens that if you’re too tuckered out to also assemble a salad, oh, it’s already in there. Of interest to nobody but me, it’s also ridiculously easy to eat with one hand, so gloppy and chunky in all of the best ways, as well as a most delicious of one-bowl meals.
And then he did the dishes.
As for the whole, you know, sling thing, I’m feeling a little better. The myriad of bruises are edging into rainbow stage, an eyesore but as any klutz knows, the first step in the right direction. Morning seems to be the worse time as I’ve stubbornly refused to take the heavier painkillers they’ve prescribed me, the thought of being groggy or even dizzy more frightening than discomfort. This morning, I plopped myself on the sofa waiting for the Advil to kick in and though I’ve resisted this so far, flipped on the morning talk shows. If there could be a better sign that I had made the right choice, Martha (OMG! Martha!!1!) herself was on, explaining Borat to her audience as “poopy humor.” Oh people, how could this not be a good day?
Tomato and Sausage Risotto
Adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food
Serves 4
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 small onion, finely chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 bunch flat-leaf spinach (10 to 14 ounces), washed well, tough stems removed, chopped (about 7 cups)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)
2 tablespoons butter
- In a small saucepan, combine tomatoes (with their juice) and 3 cups water. Bring just to a simmer; keep warm over low heat.
- In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add sausage and onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up sausage with a spoon, until sausage is opaque and onion has softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add rice; cook, stirring until well coated, 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine; cook, stirring until absorbed, about 1 minute.
- Add about 2 cups hot tomato mixture to rice; simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until absorbed, 4 to 5 minutes. Continue adding tomato mixture, 1 cup at a time, waiting for one cup to be absorbed before adding the next, stirring occasionally, until rice is creamy and just tender, about 25 minutes total (you may not have to use all the liquid).
- Remove pan from heat. Stir in spinach, Parmesan, and butter; season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately (risotto will thicken as it cools), and sprinkle with additional Parmesan, if desired.
oh risotto, how i love thee… we typically do a mushroom or lobster risotto… love them both however this might have to be our new try next time we are in the mood…
i too have begun to have a rainbow of brusies since my crash landing down the stairs on sunday morning. here’s a trick to the medicine… take 1/2 a pill… it will do the job and you won’t be groggy…
*drool* I think I have found the dish to fix my boyfriend for New Year’s Eve. It’s perfect, it’s warm, and it looks like it induces cuddling. Also, Deb, I’m making the mac n’ cheese for the second time! I brought some in for my coworkers after I made the initial batch and it was specifically requested for the Thanksgiving potluck that we’re having tomorrow! Good job. :D
I love your bowls. And I would have given anything to hear the words “poopy humor” come out of Martha’s mouth…
A double coincidence! (Are you stalking me, gawd!) I made this recipe this past Sunday, and indeed it is pretty darn good. :D I was afraid of the spinach at first, but i washed it a hundred times to be sure.
When can I come by and pick up those dreadful painkillers?
This looks seriously great! What a wonderful direction mom steered you in. And he did the dishes. Incredible.
I may have to print this out and have my husband make it for ME sometime. If Alex can do it, I’m sure my Tom can do it. ;) I can’t believe I’ve never actually had risotto before.
ps. I thought of you last night as I made a recipe from your dear Ina, her Croque Monsieurs, which came out fabulous.
Ooooh, risotto! I love a good hearty risotto! It was just up on my blog as well:
http://cooknkate.wordpress.com/2006/11/09/risotto-a-la-milanese/
And this one looks really yummy too!
I”ve been wanting to try that one since I got the issue it’s in. My husband doesn’t like sausage though, so it’s going to have to be one of those recipes I make when he’s on the road for work. Glad it tastes as good as it looks.
The Martha dinner. The Martha cure. Martha does it all.
I’m glad you seem to be starting to mend. That was a nasty sounding fall. Sounds like Alex is taking good care of you while you recover.
The risotto looks heavenly. I usually just stick to a plain risotto made with chicken broth, onions, garlic and occasionally throwing in some halved, sauted shrimp, but this recipe is definitely worth it. Maybe I too will have the man in my life make it… he’s been up to cooking lately.
Hope your clavicle is doing better! Did you get copies of the x-rays btw? You should post them up :)
Do you think it’s ok to substitute whole grain brown rice for the Arborio? Because this dish looks sooooo yummy, but I’ve had to make some dietary changes that only allow brown rice.
And???? I managed to injure my foot again – apparently dropping firewood on it once wasn’t enough, so I did it again. Doesn’t that make you feel less klutzy now?
WHAT a gorgeous blog, hilarious commentary and beautiful photographs. The risotto sounds divine. I would like to invite you to look at my blog, but NOT at the photographs; I’m completely embarrassed now I’ve seen yours. Enjoy, and you are definitely bookmarked on my computer and I’ll describe your blog on mine. Keep cooking and writing, please!
Kristen
This looks fantastic- I’ve never really been drawn to risotto until looking at your pictures! I’ve never tasted it, but have always thought it just looked like over-cooked, mushy rice. (I have issues with food texture…). I can’t wait to make this one!
i made the risotto last night. It was fabulous (I’m eating it for lunch again today) but I found that there wasn’t enough liquid in the 28 oz can of tomatos to cook all the rice. I added another 14oz can of tomatos. I added it slowly, 1 cupful at a time as directed. Perhaps the heat was too high?
I hate to be the only nay-sayer here, but I made this recipe last night and it was really disappointing. Seemed under-seasoned and uninteresting, even a bit raw from all that tomato/water broth. A whole lot of stirring for very little flavor.
I got my husband to make this as well. His first risotto and boy, was he proud! We both thought it was very good and thankfully he cut the recipe in half or we would have eaten the 4 servings on one night. Thanks!
wooow !
i was loking for a good recipe …
and i gatta say … it taset like haven!
thanx and regards
Made this last night–superb! You do need to liberally season with salt and pepper though, especially if you’re using no salt added canned tomatoes. But overall, we loved it–the husband devoured his portion in about two minutes ;).
Yep, ours was good, too — we didn’t use the whole can of tomoatos — there was about 3/4 of a cup left. I thought the amount of spinach called for was a little out of control, though. I used less than half the amount. This was tasty — very “comfort food.”
Well done! This is a great recipe for the chilly nights that still lurk. Thanks. Hat tip to Pioneer Woman for leading me here.
I made this last night and my boyfriend claimed it was the best risotto he’s ever had. Like a few others, I did end up using more liquid than it called for (in the form of chicken broth, as I didn’t have any more tomato liquid) and I had to cook it for about 40 minutes to get a creamy enough consistency. I also subbed the white wine for chicken broth plus a squirt of lemon juice and it seemed to work great.
It did need a fair amount of salt and pepper, and I added some garlic with the onion, which made the whole dish intensely flavorful. I definitely recommend doing that. I also just tossed in a whole bag of baby spinach at the end, so no chopping was required there. All in all, it was a winner!
Oh, and we had it with the “famous” no-knead bread…delicious!
thanks for the post,
amanda
My mother and I just made this for dinner, for my father and ourselves, it was amazing. it was the first time we had ever made risotto and i can’t say enough good things about it. thank you so much!
I just made this for dinner and it was fantastic. I subbed in half of the spinach with arugula which gave it a nice bite.
Thursday night is the big food day each week at my house and this site has given me o much stuff to work with! I made this risotto tonight and there was silence for like 20 minutes cuz everyone was too involved with eating. It was a complete hit. I added a clove of garlic like Amanda and a few chopped basil leaves at the end which added a nice fresh flavor. Great recipe!
This was great. I made it for a party and everyone loved it. The only thing I added was fresh basil and chopped garlic. Yummy!
I’m having guests to dinner and would love to serve the risotto, but as a side dish. I need things to go with it. Any ideas?
I made this for my future in-laws and it was a big hit! Thanks SmittenKitchen!
made this last night and thought it was delicious- looked just like your pictures! thanks for the great recipe :)
This dish was so good, I’m making it twice in one week. I can’t get enough.
This was incredible. My boyfriend had never had risotto before and after taking one bite said, “This is amazing… why have I never had this before… it’s incredible.” and after finishing “I’m so full, but I could eat so much more of this it’s so good”. haha :) Love it. I used 1/2 the spinach because I got sick of chopping it, but it was still a good amount. And I used hot sausage, too. It wasn’t too spicy. This is an incredible dish; I will be making it a lot in the future! Thanks :)
Not only was this wonderful and tasty! But……ALSO, my friend Maggie and I were just gchatting and catching up from our long weekends, and shared that we had done some cooking. What did we make? without knowing in advance? Both of is made this Risotto.
THANK YOU SmittenKitchen! what a great way to start the week (it’s also great to have leftovers for lunch!).
Molly
YUM! Thanks for the great recipe.
This was amazing. I used the sweet sausage since I’ve never been a fan of spicy foods but as I was eating it all I could think was “it needs the spicy sausage to give it just that little bit of a kick”. So I would recommend a spicy sausage instead of the sweet for whoever hasn’t tried this yet. It was also beautiful to look at!
Made this over the weekend – got rave reviews!!! Like others I added some garlic at the beginning and finished it off with some fresh basil at the end! Fabulous!
This is my fourth SK recipe, and as usual it was delicious and ended up looking exactly like your pictures through the whole process. I used 2 sweet Italian chicken sausages and 1 spicy Italian chicken sausage. Perfect! Just enough heat. I am now a devout follower and proselytizer. Anytime I want to make something, I check your archives first! And then I tell everyone on Facebook to look you up! Thank you for giving me some culinary skill!
Hi I am a new reader/fan or yours. I found you through a knitting website of all things. I made your amazing risotto last night and it was wonderful. Thanks for dinner! cheers
I made this last night and threwin a peeled and chopped up medium sized eggplant with the sausage and onion and cooked it until soft before adding the rice. Gave it a nice silkiness as the eggplant cooked down to nothing recognizable but was yummy. I didn’t pay attention to portions with teh sausage, etc and realized I’d about doubled it so doubled the rice. Wish I hadn’t. 1) We have enough for armies and will freeze the leftovers and see how it comes out with more tomato broth to loosen them up as we eat them. 2) I think we’ll add more sausage and maybe zucchini and such as we eat the leftovers.
I made this tonight and it was excellent. It’s quite hearty and would make an excellent Fall/Winter dish, but the spinach added enough green to make it suitable for spring and summer as well. Thanks!
OH MY GOODNESS! This was so tasty and so easy! Risotto is easily one of my favorite meals and this just proved it. I might make it again this weekend – that’s how much we loved it.
Hi! Awesome recipe. Made this last night for my husband who lovingly tries everything I make and he loved this recipe! Definately will be making this again and will be inviting people over to share it! Thank you:)
I made this recipe again today – IF YOU HAVEN’T MADE THIS RECIPE, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???
I am very thankful that I stumbled upon this recipe on your site. It came out perfectly. It was my first attempt at risotto and my roommates said it was restaurant quality! Thanks for putting it up!
This dish is so good. I made it for dinner tonight (for the second time), and I just keep thinking about the leftovers that are in the fridge. I used hot turkey sausage and a whole pound of spinach, and it was delicious and comforting. Perfect for the cooler weather that we are starting to get.
Thanks for the recipe; it is definitely a keeper!
I didn’t have white wine, so I used homemade chicken stock. Very flavourful. The parmesan makes this dish! Will make it again!
My husband adored this dish! And I loved it too! I must admit, I put way too much sausage and not enough spinach, so next time I’ll follow your directions on that. But this recipe is definitely a keeper! Because we’re newly married (4 months tomorrow!), my husband and I have a google doc of ‘good meals’. This risotto is on that list.
So…
Is it an absolute disaster if one tries to make risotto with anything other than arborio rice? For instance, if I tried it with my student-budget long-grain stuff, would it really, truly not work?
Great dish!
This risotto is easy to make (though time consuming: what with all the chopping stirring, it takes about an hour). It is not expensive.
The risotto is very flavorful. However, as some readers advised, I used both, sweet and spicy, sausages. The combination is perfect. I used good quality (though not expensive) cooking wine and added 1 cup chicken broth to the tomato mix. And I added some chopped basil before serving.
I used about 1.5 cups rice and the amount of liquid recommended in the recipe was more than enough for that. I used about 8 ounces of spinach and that was almost too much. So I would think that for 1 cup rice, 10 ounces, as the recipe says, would be overwhelming, I would use just 5.
Thank you, Deb!
wouldn’t you know, I have a bunch of italian sausage and it’s pouring rain so risotto sounded good. i looked and looked on the web and then thought, let me see what’s on SK. of course, exactly what I was looking for. you are the best!
Just made this with a can of fire roasted tomatoes (with green chilies) from Trader Joes… DELISH!! Thanks for posting this. :)
I’m eating a deliciously successful bowlful as we speak! Thank you so much for yet another wonderful recipe!
I’ve been planning to make this all week for a cozy Friday night in! This is my go-to recipe for comfort food, and I probably make it once a month.
I’ve been in a position where I didn’t have white wine in the house, so I subbed chicken broth…though it was still fantastic, I definitely recommend making a trip to the liquor store. The wine gives it a little oomph!
Considering Hurricane Ida is making everything cold and wet here, I’ve been counting down the hours until tonight’s dinner! I agree with Jessica G…rain=risotto!
Just made this for the parents. It was my first risotto, and man was it good! Dad usually makes creamy white risottos with mushroom bases, so it was nice to have something different. Thanks! :)
I love this risotto! second time I’ve made it. I’m usually inclined to make a salad with a risotto. I think the sausage and spinach help this dish transcend risotto world to stand in full-on dinner world. My wife said, “where’s the salad?” and I said, “there’s a ton of spinach in this!”
I used chicken andouille sausage…the spice kick helps.
one pot, two plates. awesome.
I cannot get enough risotto, and this recipe was no exception. A real winner with my husband too. We used hot turkey sausage, though I might be so adventurous as to try some chorizo next time. We have a Spanish market in town that makes the good stuff. The spinach was the perfect addition for flavor and color. Thanks!
Ok, I know that this post is coming up on four-years-old, but… I couldn’t help but comment on how much I loved this recipe. I made it on a cold winter’s night for me and my grandparents as “something different”. Much to my shock (somewhat resistant to change, they are) they loved. Even the notoriously hard-to-please Italian grandfather thought it was a great.
Oh my, this is maybe the best recipe yet from smittenkitchen and that’s saying A LOT because I live for Deb’s fantastic recipe each day (or every other day). That said, this is a great dish and well worth the constant stirring. YUM to the MY!