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Risotto with sausage, red wine, and dried beans

Risotto with sausage and borlotti beans is a traditional risotto from the Piedmont region in North-western Italy.
Prep Time40 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Total Time1 hour 5 minutes
Course: entree, first course, Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

  • 1 Onion
  • 2-3 Sausages
  • 350 g Caneroli or aborio rice 2 cups
  • 250 ml Red wine 1 cup
  • 1 Beef bouillion cube or beef broth
  • 1 tsp Salt or to taste
  • 400 g 1 can Borlotti or cannelini beans
  • 30 g grated Parmesan cheese 3 Tbsp
  • 1 large pot Simmering water or broth

Instructions

  • Put the pot of water with the bouillon cube in it to simmer on the stove top.  Chop the onion finely and saute it in olive oil in a second pot. When the onion becomes translucent, crumble the sausage and add it.  Stir the mixture until the sausage is browned.
  • Add the rice and saute until it browns slightly.
  • Add the wine and let it boil off.
  • Pour in enough water/broth from your simmering pot to cover the rice mixture. and put the timer on for 13 minutes.  Now, STAY THERE AND DON'T MOVE!!  As the rice is cooking, watch the level of the water.  As it goes down, add water from the simmering pot, one ladle-full (or cupful) at a time. Stir the rice often.
  • At this point, you can drain the beans and add them.
  • As the time gets to around 12 minutes, start tasting the rice to see how done it is. The type of rice you have may vary the cooking times, so I'm being conservative here. If it's close to being cooked, don't add any more water and let the water in the rice boil off....and don't forget to stir it.....
  • Add the Parmesan cheese and stir it in.