Gennaro's Hidden Italy: Regional Recipes to Treasure For Generations
By Gennaro Contaldo
Paniscia
Bean and sausage risotto
Not Too Tricky
serves 4
About the recipe
This traditional rural recipe from Novara in the Piemontese region has age-old roots and is believed to have been made even before rice was cultivated in the area, using ancient grains such as barley, rye, oatmeal or millet. It uses a soft salami known as salami della duja but, as this is not widely available outside of the region, I have used Italian pork sausage which, combined with cavolo nero and borlotti beans, makes for a very tasty and nutritious risotto. Serve with a glass of red wine such as Barolo or any type of full-bodied red.
Recipe From
Ingredients
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
70 g/2 ½ oz butter
60 g/2 ¼ oz pancetta, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
160 g/5 ¾ oz Italian pork sausages, skin removed and crumbled
240 g/8 ½ oz cavolo nero, stems discarded and thinly sliced
300 g/10 ½ oz arborio rice
100 ml/3 ½ fl oz red wine
2 x 400g/14 oz tins of borlotti beans, drained but reserve the liquid
approx. 1.5 litres/ ¾ pints hot vegetable stock
60 g/2 ¼ oz grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve (optional)
Method
- In a wide pan, place the olive oil with 30 g/1 oz of butter over a medium heat, add the pancetta, shallots, sausage meat and cavolo nero and sweat for about 5 minutes, until the shallots are softened and the sausage meat is coloured.
- Stir in the rice until each grain is coated in the fat, then add the red wine and allow it to evaporate. Add the bean liquid with a ladle of the hot stock and cook over a low-medium heat, stirring, until absorbed. Continue to add the hot stock gradually and keep cooking for about 15 minutes. When the rice is cooked ‘al dente’, stir in the borlotti beans.
- Remove the pan from the heat and gently mix in the remaining butter and the grated Parmesan. Serve with an extra dusting of grated Parmesan, if desired.
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