Sage Risotto

I have this amazing sage plant growing on my balcony. It’s not your typical sage with the pointy leaf, but the flavor is the same and it’s growing like mad.

While I’ve always loved the taste of sage, this plant is spurring me to try more and more things made with sage. Beer battered sage leaves are amazing, as a matter of fact.

Recently, I decided to try a sage risotto. Since sage is such a strong flavor, I was a little worried that it would be overpowering, but it turned out to be delicious.

Ingredients

5 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion diced
12 oz Arborio rice (believe me, make sure you have arborio rice. Regular rice just isn’t the same.)
1/2 cup dry white wine
10 sage leaves, chopped
6 tablespoons grated Parmigiano or Grana Padano

In a small sauce pan, heat the broth to simmer, but do not boil, keep it simmering throughout the cooking process.

In a large skillet or large sauce pan, over a medium flame, heat the olive oil and melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. Once the butter is completely melted, add the onions and saute until soft, but not brown.

Add the wine and allow it to evaporate. Now, stir in your rice and allow it to toast a little in the olive oil mixture, stirring it the entire time. Don’t leave it in for more than two minutes, or it will toughen, however, you want the rice to get a transparent look to it.

Now, ad a ladle-full of broth to the rice, stirring and allowing the liquid to evaporate. The process is a little labor intensive in that you need to keep adding ladle-fulls of broth and stirring, but that’s what gives the risotto its creamy consistency. Continue the process, one ladle-full of broth at a time. This part of the process should take about 15 minutes. Keep your flame on medium, though. You want the liquid to bubble a little, but not boil.

Half way through this process, add your sage leaves to the mixture.

About 15 minutes into the process, taste test some of the rice. You want it to be cooked, but al dente. It should give you some resistance when you chew it, but, obviously not be crunchy.

Once your rice is cooked, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter and the cheese.

Spoon into warm plates and, if you’d like, garnish with a fresh sage leaf or two.

Enjoy!

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