make it tonight

sweet potato & apple risotto

Ingredients

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced to ½” cubes

2 medium Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and diced to ½” cubes

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided use

Salt

Black pepper

2 tablespoons honey

2 sweet Italian sausage links, casings removed and crumbled

3 tablespoons butter, divided use

1 small onion, chopped

1 cup Arborio rice

½ cup white wine

4 cups chicken stock, very hot

¼ cup shredded Gruyère cheese

¼ cup shaved Parmesan cheese

4 leaves fresh sage, chopped

Tools Of The Trade

large baking sheet aluminum foil heavy-bottomed pan ladle

½ - ¾ measuring cups tablespoon mixing bowl paring knife or apple corer

Technique

"FOLDING" using a down-acrossup-and-over motion with the spatula in the mixing bowl

The How To

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, line a baking sheet with foil, and drizzle it with a little olive oil.

2. In a medium bowl, toss together the cubed sweet potato and the apples with the pumpkin pie spice, a couple of good pinches of salt and pepper, the honey and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and turn them out onto the foil-lined baking sheet in a single layer.

3. Place these into the oven to roast for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown, stirring them a bit about halfway through the roasting to prevent them from burning on the bottom (do not worry if the apples begin to break down); set aside once roasted.

4. While the sweet potato and apples roast, begin the risotto: place a large, heavy-bottom pan (which is a couple of inches deep) over medium/medium-high heat, and once hot, add in the crumbled sweet Italian sausage, and brown it for a few minutes until cooked through. Set this aside on a plate.

5. Next, add 2 tablespoons of butter and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the hot pan to melt together, and then add the chopped onion and sweat for about 2 minutes until translucent.

6. Add the Arborio rice to this and gently stir, making sure to coat all the rice grains in the butter/oil for about a minute or two; then, add the white wine to the rice and onions (careful if cooking with flame), and give a gentle stir, allowing the wine to reduce until almost absorbed, but not quite completely.

7. Then, begin adding the hot chicken stock to the rice mixture in ½ – ¾ cup increments at a time (about 1 to 1 ½ ladles), stirring gently to incorporate and allowing the rice to slowly absorb the stock and gently simmer (adjust your flame if necessary).

8. Continue to add additional increments of stock, stirring and allowing it to almost absorb, repeating this process until the rice is soft and creamy but not mushy, roughly 25 minutes.

9. To finish the risotto and serve, turn the heat off from under the pan; add in the remaining tablespoon of butter, the grated Gruyère, the shaved Parmesan, the browned sweet Italian sausage, the roasted sweet potato, apples, and ½ of the chopped sage.

10. Gently fold all these ingredients together in the pan, spoon generous portions of the risotto into bowls, and serve immediately; garnish each serving with an additional sprinkle of the sage and an additional sprinkle of cheese, if desired.

Difficulty Moderate

RISOTTO | Italian: from riso meaning "rice"

A northern Italian dish cooked with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. The broth can be from meat, fish, or vegetables. Many types of risotto contain butter, onion, white wine, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. It is one of the most common ways of cooking rice in Italy.

In Italy, risotto is commonly served before the main course.

Wikipedia / August 2022

Recipe And Photography Beth Pridday

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WRITTEN BY ALICIA UNDERLEE NELSON

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