Sunday, November 15, 2009

Squash Risotto with Chicken Sausage

Hello dear cooking blog. Please accept my apologies for being away for so long. But I am back and I thought this dish would help make up for my long absence. I just love a nice savory stick to your ribs risotto. While I was rummaging through the fridge looking for something to throw together for dinner I spied some leftover roasted squash. I am growing weary of the typical squash soup and thought maybe I could incorporate this into some risotto. Yes! I still have some decent fresh sage in the garden - a perfect match with squash. And for some protein I have these delicious chicken sausage with asiago cheese and spinach in the freezer. Perfect!

I made a chicken broth with water and some Korean chicken dashi powder. Not quite homemade but it will do in a pinch for this dish. Altogether it was about 7 cups of broth. I chopped up a medium onion and sauteed it in a hot pan with olive oil. Once they were softened I added about 2.5 cups of Korean rice. I use this rice for everything. It has a fair amount of starch which lends itself well to risotto if you don't rinse it. I tossed in the rice, some chopped garlic and some sliced fresh sage. I started slowly adding the broth with stirring over the next 15 minutes. I added some frozen peas for a touch of sweetness and color and added a pound of the chicken sausage. Cooking was continued for another 5 minutes or so until the rice was the perfect texture - not too soft and not to crunchy. It was nicely savory and really filling