Brown Rice and Sausage Risotto

I picked up some short grain brown rice the other day, and realized (after I'd bought it) that I could probably make risotto with it. Ed was into this idea, because he doesn't like super goopy risotto, for whatever reason, and we figured the brown rice would give out less starch. We sort of forgot about the whole takes-forever-to-cook bit of this though. That was a late dinner... expect about an hour of cooking time. It was good, but it wasn't worth doing that again on a weeknight.

Brown rice risotto
Made 3 servings

1C short-grained brown rice
~6C liquid (chicken stock and water)
1 bay leaf
~4C mushrooms
1 chorizo link
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Sage (optional)
~1/2C white wine
~1/4C grated parmegian cheese

Heat the chicken stock and the wine, separately.

Chop the onion, and toast it in a wok until its softened. Add the garlic and toast until its golden brown and delicious. Add more oil to the wok (a tablespoon or two), and pour in the rice. Toss it around until all the grains are coated in oil, and continue to toss it around in the pan for 4-5 minutes.

Add the wine. Stir the rice around until it has absorbed the wine. It'll take longer than white rice would. Add a large slop of chicken stock - you can walk away for 10 minutes or so at this point. Let that simmer away until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Then add more. This will continue for about an hour - remember to stir occasionally so nothing sticks to the bottom of the wok. After ~30min, add the mushrooms, and a fair bit of salt.

Dice up the chorizo, and then in a separate pan, cook it until it is cooked and a little brown around the edges. Add to the risotto with some sage and salt and pepper.

Eventually, your risotto will be done. Just keep tasting it until it tastes done. Stir in the cheese at this point. It will be delicious, but you will decide that it took way too long, and you don't want to do it again for a long while.

If you're into creaminess, add a dash of cream, or a pat of butter, or a lot more parmesan cheese.

We served it up with some roasted Brussels sprouts. My favorite way to eat those mini cabbages.