Risotto - the ultimate comfort food

Creamy, gooey, and gluten-free, it doesn't get much better than Risotto. 

My love affair with Risotto started almost immediately upon moving to Italy. My PhD adviser often invited me to dinner, and she often prepared the same dish... Risotto alla Milanese, which is Risotto with safron. I learned by watching her, and I've made it one of my go-to dishes.

The great thing about it though, is that you can dress it up any way you want. A few months ago a tried a new take on risotto and my friend and most frequent taste-tester, Ola, has told me that it's her absolute favorite dish that I make.

So when Ola needed some comforting this weekend, I knew exactly what to make her for dinner!

pay no attention to my photography skills, it tastes much better than it looks!

Risotto with sausage, tomato and spinach

1 medium white onion
a couple tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil  (or butter if you want the added richness)
about 300 grams of any kind of ground meat you want (I use sausage)
Risotto - I just eyeball it (I do that with a lot of things actually) but it's probably about 3 cups of rice that I use
some white wine
1 can chicken (or vegetable) broth
one can diced tomatoes
a cup or so of shredded parmigiano
2-3 big handfuls of fresh spinach
I also add some hot pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Combine chicken broth and diced tomatoes in a saucepan and heat until simmering.
Saute the onion in the oil or butter about 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent in a nonstick pan.
Add the rice.
Add a bit of wine.
Note: I don't really know how much wine, I don't completely cover the rice, but I add enough to cover the entire bottom of the pan. But heres a confession, I often don't have white wine at home, so I use red, and when I don't have red wine at home, I use beer. It sounds weird to cook with beer, but I actually love the taste that it gives the rice. However, beer will make this dish not safe for somebody with a gluten intolerance!

When the wine cooks off, start to add the chicken broth/tomato mixture one ladle at a time (once every 2-3 minutes or when you notice that the previous ladle of liquid has been completely absorbed). It's very important to stir the rice frequently while it cooks. It's also important to not add all the liquid at the same time. The starch needs to be coaxed out of the rice slowly to get the creamy texture that makes risotto so great.

I add the hot pepper flakes sometime after I start adding the tomato/broth mix.

When the rice is almost finished cooking (probably about 20-25 minutes into the process, but I always taste a grain to decide if it's ready), add the Parmesan and spinach. I mix it all in and then let it sit for a couple of minutes on low heat to let the spinach cook. Then I give it one more stir, and I add some salt and pepper to taste.

Done. A warm, gooey, creamy, bowl of heaven!