Italian Sausage and Fennel Risotto

I came across this recipe for "Sausage, Pepper and Fennel Risotto" which sounded tasty. I have made a few risottos so far and I have really been enjoying them. I really liked the idea of making a risotto with Italian sausage. I have also been wanting to try using fennel for a while now. From what I understand, fennel is commonly used to flavour sausages and I thought they would go well together. When I made this risotto I wanted to try making it wetter, more stew like in consistency. It turned out pretty good. It was really tasty. The fennel had a really nice licorice like aroma when it was fresh but after it was cooked I could not really taste it all that much.



Ingredients:

2 Italian sausage (casings removed, crumbled)

1 tablespoon butter

1 bulb fennel (chopped)

1 onion (chopped)

1 clove garlic

1 cup arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine

3 cups chicken stock

1 bell pepper (chopped)

1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)

1/4 parsley (chopped)



Directions:

1. Saute the sausage in a pan until cooked.

2. Add the butter and melt.

3. Add the fennel and onion and saute until tender, about 3-5 minutes.

4. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30-60 seconds.

5. Add the rice and saute until the rice becomes translucent, about 2 minutes.

6. Add the wine and deglaze the bottom of the pan.

7. Add 1/2 cup of the chicken stock to the rice and stir until the rice absorbs it. Continue to do this until the rice is cooked al dente, about 20-30 minutes.

8. Add the bell pepper.

9. Remove from the heat and stir in the parmigianno regiano and parsley.