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Risotto alla birra con radicchio e salsiccia

17/11/2023

Beer risotto with radicchio and sausage is a dish rich in flavors that come together to create a perfect balance between the bitterness of radicchio, the sweetness of beer, and the savory taste of sausage. Here’s how you could prepare this recipe, with an Italian twist.

Ingredients

  • 320 g of risotto rice (Carnaroli or Arborio)
  • 1 glass of pale beer
  • 200 g of red radicchio
  • 200 g of sausage
  • 1 small onion
  • Vegetable or meat broth, as needed
  • Butter, as needed
  • Grated Parmesan cheese, as needed
  • Extra virgin olive oil (EVO), as needed
  • Salt and pepper, as needed

Preparation

  1. Start by finely chopping the onion and slicing the radicchio into strips. Crumble the sausage, removing the casing.
  2. In a pan, heat a drizzle of EVO oil and sauté the onion until it becomes translucent.
  3. Add the crumbled sausage and let it brown until it begins to color.
  4. Add the radicchio cut into strips and let it wilt along with the sausage.
  5. Meanwhile, in a pot, lightly toast the rice with a bit of butter until the grains become shiny and translucent.
  6. Deglaze the rice with the beer and let the alcohol evaporate.
  7. Begin adding the hot broth a little at a time, continuing to stir and keeping the rice always slightly moist.
  8. Midway through cooking, add the sausage and radicchio mixture to the rice.
  9. Continue cooking, adding broth as necessary and stirring frequently.
  10. When the rice is cooked al dente, season with salt and pepper, then cream with a knob of butter and a generous handful of grated Parmesan to make it creamy.
  11. Let the risotto rest a couple of minutes before serving.

It is recommended to serve hot, perhaps with a further sprinkling of Parmesan and a drizzle of raw EVO oil.

Curiosity

The roots of risotto trace back to Northern Italy, and each region has its own version of this dish. In this case, the addition of beer is a modern interpretation that approaches tradition, bringing a new dimension of flavor that pairs well with typical ingredients like sausage and radicchio.