Recipe risotto with cantharelles (or other mushrooms) and saucisse de Toulouse (or any other sausage you like)

We only prepare risotto when we know we have a small dinnerparty. When you're like me - a: not a professional chef and b:not italian (aka - not used to making GOOD risotto) - I would advise you to make this recipe only for 4 to 6 persons -tops. The preparation of risotto is quite time consuming - you need to stay at the stove the whole time.

I alway's make risotto in two stages -thanks to some very useful advice of Jamie Oliver in his cookbook 'COOK'. You prepare the risotto for 75%, let it cool and rest on a tray until needed. The last part of the preparation only takes about 10 minutes and that you can do whilst your guests are already at the table. 

So thanks to Jamie we sometimes serve risotto at our B&B-dinnerparty. Yesterday evening it was the following recipe:

Yesterday we got the first cantherelles of the season from our neighbour (read: Blogpost: First cantharelles of this season) and I used them to make this delicious risotto as a main course for our table d'hôte. Our guests loved it! I hope you will too.

Risotto with cantharelles and saucisse de Toulouse

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Recipe: Risotto with cantharelles (you can also use other mushrooms) en sausage

Ingrediënts
(4 - 6 persons)
- 1 oignon
- 2 selery stalks
- 3 cups of chickenstock (2 cups for first part preparation risotto + 1 cup for second part)
- 2,5 cup of risottorice (= 300 gram)
- 3/4 cup white wine
- 4 tablespoons of butter (1 for first part preperations + 3 for second part)
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 6 table spoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 6 table spoons of cantharelles (or other mushrooms if you prefer those)
- 1 saucisse de Toulouse (or any other sausage, like chipolata - but then you'll need like 4)
- 1 clove of garlic
- 3 table spoons of chopped up flat parsley
- some extra butter to sauté cantharelles and fry the sausages in
- seasalt & pepper

Preparation:

Risotto - 1 part - (you can do this well in advance)
- Have a tray ready and drizzled with a bit of oliveoil, to make sure the rice won't stick to the tray.
- Put a wide saucepan on the stove and add a table spoon of butter and 4 table spoons of olive oil
- Chop the oignon and selery into little pieces and sauté the oignon and selery for a couple of minutes. Then add the risottorice and stir until everything is covered with a tiny layer of butter.
- Add the white wine and stir until all the wine is absorbed by the rice.
- Now stir a ladleful of chickenstock into the rice. Keep stiring until fully absorbed by the rice. Then add the next ladle of stock. Continue this process untill a total of 2 cups of chickenstock is absorbed. This will take about 15 minutes. Turn of the heat and let the rice cool off on the tray until needed.

Risotto ready for 75% - cooling of on a tray until further use 

Risotto - second part - getting ready to serve the dish
- Put a saucepan on medium heat and sauté the cantharelles in a bit of butter. Add the garlic and parsley and stir. Keep warm until needed.
- Fry the sausage(s) and keep these warm as well whilst preprare the last part off the risotto.
You need to have these other ingredients of the dish (mushrooms & sausage) totally ready before you finalize your risotto, but make sure they keep warm. Ok, ready? Here we go:
- Put a wide saucepan on medium heat. Pour in half of the remaining cup of chickenstock. Add the cooled risotto and turn up the heat. Stir until everything is practically cooking - then turn heat lower and add a ladleful of the remaining chickenstock (at this stage you have 1/2 cup chickenstock left) and again keep stirring until all the stock is absorbed. Then add the next ladle. Continue this process until all the stock is added and absorbed. This will take about 7-8 minutes.
- Once all the stock is absorbed turn off the heat, add the parmesan and 3 tablespoons of butter - stir firmly. Put a top on the pan and let it rest for one minute.
- Time to plate up: Put the risotto on (pre-heated) plates, put the cantharelles on top and last but not least, cut the sausage into pieces and add to the plate. Serve directly - Bon appetit!