A cold day and a craving: a recipe for chicken stock and my recipe for pea, sausage and tarragon risotto
I made a risotto this week. I don’t often make risotto, but the weather and an unfamiliar craving sent me thinking about it all day. I had also been thinking about making chicken stock. I felt like filling the house with that warming smell of onion, dill and parsley bubbling away for hours on the stove- I guess winter turns me into a cliche for cosy homes and filling food?
The combination of crumbled and seared Italian sausage with freshly podded peas and a light showering of tarragon is decadent without being intimidating to create. You can of course make this risotto with frozen peas too (my partner would probably even prefer this) but if you have the time, there is something lovely about podding peas. Take a bowl outside, sit yourself down and pod the green vegetable for half an hour or so. You will be rewarded with a bowl filled with little green jewels!
With Marcella Hazan’s ‘The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking’ open to guide me, and a glass of the cooking wine to sip on, I watched as the rice grains grew bigger in the pot. The heat, starch and liquid bind together, creating a beautiful creaminess. After about 18-25 minutes of attentive stirring it all comes together. The rice should just hold together, spreading itself loosely onto the plate. It’s a savoury, parmesan-filled dish that is as satisfying to make as it is to eat.
Ps. For a vegetarian risotto with peas and parmesan you can simply follow this recipe and omit the sausage and instead use vegetable stock.
A guide to basic chicken stock
Makes a stock pot full of chicken stock. Freeze the leftover liquid in small containers to use for future recipes.
What you will need -
1kg chicken carcasses (I used about 3 chicken carcasses. You can also use pieces of chicken such as a couple of drumsticks and a few wings)
2 carrots, roughly chopped
3 ribs of celery, roughly chopped
2 onions, skin on, roughly chopped
1 whole garlic (take off the outer most skin and cut crosswise through the centre so the garlic is in two halves)
A few bay leaves
A small bunch of dill
A small bunch of parsley
A few sprigs of thyme
2 teaspoons of fennel seeds
1 teaspoon of peppercorns
This is the process -
Place the carcasses in a large stockpot, cover fully with cold water and bring to a boil. In the meantime get your vegetables ready.
When the water is boiling use a spoon to skim off any foam that may have built up at the surface of the water and discard. Add the vegetables and all the herbs and spices and stir so that all the ingredients meet. Let the water come to a boil and then turn it down so that it sits at a gentle simmer for 2-3 hours. After a while it will smell fragrant and should steam up the windows in your kitchen (that is if it’s cold outside!). Hello wholesome winter evening. At this stage the stock is ready.
Strain the liquid from the vegetables. The stock can be used to flavour and add depth to things such as the risotto recipe below or it can also be eaten as a chicken soup (just season with a little salt and serve with egg noodles - known as lockshen in Jewish culture - and a piece of the boiled carrot). Reserve at least 1.2 litres of stock for the risotto recipe.
If you used whole pieces of chicken you will be left with a little poached meat. Pull the chicken from the bone, shred the meat, place in bowls with a little flakey salt and a pinch of pepper and cover with the stock. Eat as a snack before the risotto or to sooth you on a cold day.
Sausage, Pea and Tarragon Risotto
Serves 4-5 people
What you will need -
1.2 litres chicken stock, made as directed above (note: depending on how the risotto is cooking, you should be prepared to use more or potentially less liquid so have a little more stock on hand.)
1 onion finely chopped
2 knobs of butter, each about 35g
Olive oil
500g Italian sausage
1/2 cup dry white wine
450g Carnaroli rice
500g fresh green peas
50g finely grated parmigiano-reggiano
20g finely grated pecorino
Tarragon, picked from the stalk and roughly chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
This is the process -
Bring the stock to a gentle and steady simmer in a small pot on a burner close-by to where you will be cooking the risotto.
Over a medium flame, heat a knob of butter and a few drops of olive oil in a broad, heavy-bottomed pot. Gently sear the onion until it becomes translucent.
With a knife, make a slit in the sausage casings and squeeze the sausage meat out of the skins and into the pan, breaking the pieces up with a wooden spoon. Sear the sausage meat for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it is nicely browned and golden.
Pour in the wine letting the pan whoosh up and stir altogether, making sure all the caramelised bits at the base of the pan are stirred into the sauce. When the wine has bubbled away add the rice to toast, stirring until the grains are coated and glistening.
Now start adding stock, a ladle full at a time, letting each cook away before adding more. You must stir constantly, wiping the sides and bottom of the pot clean as you stir, until all the stock is gone and the rice is ready. Never stop stirring the rice and remember to keep scraping the bottom of the pot completely clean or the rice will stick to it. When there is no more liquid in the rice pot add another ladle full and continue stirring in the same way as described above until all the stock is finished. Maintain a steady medium heat.
Note - When stirring the rice, rather than drawing circles on the pan with your spoon, fold the rice in on itself in a circular motion. This will create the silky texture you’re aiming for with risotto.
Taste the rice after 20 minutes, it is ready when it is tender but still firm to the bite - you want it to be al dente and to retain its shape. I cooked mine for about 25 minutes all up. In the last 5-10 minutes of cooking add in the podded peas and stir them through, letting them heat up and cook. If the rice is not ready by the time the stock is finished, add more stock to the other pan and keep ladling.
When the rice is ready turn off the heat and add the grated parmesan and the rest of the butter. Stir energetically with a wooden spoon to melt the cheese so that it clings to the rice and creates a creamy, glossy emulsion. Add a little pepper and salt, if you think it needs it. If you put the risotto on a plate and tilt the plate the mound of rice should flatten out. Serve right away topped with chopped tarragon and grated parmesan on the side.
Leaving you with a few photos from recent days that are taking over my camera roll at the moment. Enjoy the risotto. Ellie. X