Thinking inside the box

Time to try another "quick and easy with rice" recipe, i.e one that is based on a box of Rice Risotto. This one is leek and sausage risotto (p108), basically chicken flavoured Rice Risotto with a few extra ingredients thrown in.

The recipe requires cooked sausages - presumably it's designed as a way to use up leftover saussies from a barbecue or something, but, since I haven't eaten sausages for weeks, I didn't have any leftovers ready to use. Instead I got myself a packet of Hellers Spicy Italian sausages, and cooked them up in a frypan before beginning the risotto.

After removing the cooked sausages and slicing them up, I added some oil to the pan with garlic, dried basil, and the rice from the sachet in the rice risotto box. When the rice had browned slightly, I added the leek, the sliced sausages, some hot water, and the flavour sachet from the box.

This mixture was simmered for 15 minutes with the lid on, and 5 more uncovered. Then my leek and sausage risotto was ready.

It was quite tasty, really. Nicely savoury and very filling. It would be a very good way to use up leftover sausages, if you happened to have any. The pieces of Spicy Italian sausage are quite a good addition, but you could use any sausage you liked, since most of the flavour comes from the sachet.

Ok, so it's not a proper risotto: it doesn't have the texture, because it's not the right kind of rice, and I didn't stand there for ages stirring it. But that's nothing new about Rice Risotto. This aside, it's a quick, easy, tasty meal, and would definitely be a good way to use up those barbie leftovers.

Rice Risotto is something I've seldom used in the past, but trying this recipe has made me realise how easily I could use it to whip up a quick meal, adding whatever I happen to have on hand. It's probably not a bad idea to have a packet in the cupboard.