Slow Cooker Sausage Risoni
Speed - 100%
Simplicity - 100%
Tastiness - 100%
100%
Perfect!
Another pasta dish perfectly done in the slow cooker. This risoni is light, smoky, aromatic, just perfect!
Ingredients
- 2 Pieces Spanish Sausage cut into chunks
- 1 Pieces White Onion finely chopped
- 6 Cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1/4 Cup White Wine
- 1 Cup Chicken Broth
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Pieces Bay Leaf
- 1/3 Cup Feta Cheese crumbled
- 1 Bunch basil leaves
- 1 Cups Risoni raw, dry
Instructions
- Sear sausage pieces in a hot pan.
- Add onions and garlic. Roast them briefly.
- Deglaze the pan with white wine. Allow it to reduce completely.
- Transfer contents of the pan to slow cooker.
- Add risoni and stock.
- Cook on high for 40 minutes to an hour.
Been really fond of cooking rice and dried pasta in the crock pot lately, and boy are the possibilities really endless. This week's take – Risoni, and believe me – it's super easy!
Honestly, for this recipe, I was actually inspired by some leftover Spanish sausages sitting in my freezer, hence a sausage risoni. Go make the recipe your own by going with any protein component you wish. Chicken, beef, minced pork, seafood. . . just keep their corresponding cooking times in mind. You'll want to go for something that will cook for around 40 minutes to an hour which is the time we need for our risoni. There are a couple of workarounds to this, though. Chop up your meat to small pieces, pre-cook them, or even give them a cooking head start, adding in the risoni during the last hour of cooking.
Here I started off searing the Spanish sausages in a hot pan. This will not only pre-cook them but render off that bright red fat which is full of smoky paprika flavor. Make sure your pan is really hot and brown them on both sides.
To the same pan, sweat those onions and garlic. Have them chopped into really fine bits as we don't want any big chunk of these aromatics getting in the way as we eat our pasta dish later. Allow them to naturally caramelize to release all those sweet flavors but be sure to continuously move them around to keep them from burning and turning bitter. Just when you see those onions turn slightly translucent you'll know you've roasted them enough.
There'll be a lot of sticking going on in your pan and you wouldn't want to leave all those flavors in there. Deglaze them off with a liquid of your choice. Water, stock, fruit juice. . . be creative, go with the flavor you like. I chose to use white wine for its subtle tang and sweet fruity flavor that for me goes well with this pasta dish. Just make sure to fully reduce the wine in the pan. On top of cutting down its acidity, drying up this wine will keep our liquid ratio to dried risoni in check.
Transfer everything to the slow cooker. Add the risoni, enough stock, some bay leaves(or any other herb or spice you like), leave it there and it'll surely come out fluffy al dente. How much liquid? For risoni a 1:1 ratio should work. 1 cup liquid of your choice for every cup of dried risoni.
It'll take anywhere between 40 minutes to an hour on a high setting of your slow cooker to get the pasta perfectly al dente. Once you hit the 40-minute mark, check on the pasta to see if it needs more time. When done, turn the power off, leave the cover on, and leave for about another 5-10 minutes for the pasta to completely absorb any remaining moisture in the pot.
Top with a few fresh herbs, basil in my case, and some cheese for additional flavor. Be creative. Add in chopped nuts, dried fruit, chili, or chill it and toss-in a vinaigrette to make it a salad.
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Ingredients
- 2 Pieces Spanish Sausage cut into chunks
- 1 Pieces White Onion finely chopped
- 6 Cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1/4 Cup White Wine
- 1 Cup Chicken Broth
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Pieces Bay Leaf
- 1/3 Cup Feta Cheese crumbled
- 1 Bunch basil leaves
- 1 Cups Risoni raw, dry
Instructions
- Sear sausage pieces in a hot pan.
- Add onions and garlic. Roast them briefly.
- Deglaze the pan with white wine. Allow it to reduce completely.
- Transfer contents of the pan to slow cooker.
- Add risoni and stock.
- Cook on high for 40 minutes to an hour.
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