Sausage, blue cheese and rocket risotto

I got this recipe from a free handout at the Taste London festival a couple of years ago. It's by someone called Gizzi Erskine, and was intended to promote Stilton cheese. It's a really tasty recipe, which I've made several times, but I had to write it up here because Gizzi's recipe is dreadfully written. She doesn't tell you how much rice to use, when to add the meat to the risotto - I'm always left guessing. So here's my version for two piglets or four moderately appetited people, as I made it the other day. Gizzi suggests Italian pork and fennel sausages, but as long as they're really meaty, flavoursome ones, it'll work fine. As to the sage leaves - they really make it tasty, so include them if you can. Sage is so easy to grow, it's really a must for any garden or windowsill (note to self, write a gardening blog), but fresh leaves also freeze rather well too - they defrost in a couple of minutes, and don't lose much flavour.

Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 4 meaty sausages (I used Cumberland ones)
  • 1 onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 180g rice (I suppose it should be risotto rice, but I used brown long-grain rice and it worked fine)
  • 1 glass of white wine
  • 750ml of hot vegetable stock
  • 100g blue cheese (I used Cornish Blue, which was nice, but good Stilton has the best flavour)
  • 1 generous handful of rocket leaves
  • 4 or 5 sage leaves

Method
  1. Cut the sausages into chunks. Remove the skins if you can be bothered.
  2. Heat the oil and butter in a wide, non-stick pan, and fry the sausages until browned.
  3. Remove the meat and set aside for now. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of oil from the pan.
  4. Chop the onions finely, and add to the pan. Cook over a low heat until softened and transparent, which takes about 10 minutes.
  5. Crush the garlic and add to the pan. Cook for 1 minute, stirring it in.
  6. Add the rice and stir for a minute or two to coat the grains with oil.
  7. Pour in the wine and keep stirring until it's absorbed into the rice.
  8. Put the meat back into the pan.
  9. Add a splosh of stock and stir until it's absorbed.
  10. Continue to add stock in sploshes and stir to let the rice soak it up.
  11. Complain to anyone who will listen about how your arm aches from stirring.
  12. Once all the stock is absorbed, test a grain of rice to ensure it's cooked (don't forget that brown rice will have more bite than white rice). Turn the heat down very low.
  13. Crumble up the cheese and stir it into the pan.
  14. Stir in the rocket and sage leaves. Then season with pepper (if you like) and serve.