Spanish Chorizo Risotto with Peas

Servings: 4 - 8
Time: 15min/prep; 1hr/cook
Difficulty: easy
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This is the second dish from my “Spanish chorizo week” on my Instagram feed (@whatscookingat_rays) and was inspired by a classic Spanish rice dish – paella.

Spanish chorizo and peas are traditional ingredients in paella so it made perfect sense to me to use the chorizo in a risotto. The color of the final dish is amazing and comes from all the paprika in the chorizo.

There isn’t as much prep for this dish as paella but the risotto will take some to cook and requires constant babysitting; adding water/stock and stirring so that the arborio rice will release all of its starches slowly, making for a rich and creamy dish.

INGREDIENTS

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One link each of beef only, and beef and pork chorizo sliced
One each medium Spanish yellow and red onion diced
3 Tbsp butter
2 cups superfino arborio rice
8 cups water or stock (beef or chicken)
2 cups peas (frozen ok but make sure they are thawed and at room temp by the time ready to start cooking)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preparation:

Dice the onions, and slice the Spanish chorizo; set all aside.
Thaw the peas (if using frozen); get them to room temp before cooking.
Place a pot of water/stock on a burner close to the burner that the risotto will be cooked on. Heat up the water/stock to a simmer; have a ladle ready.
Grate Parmesan Reggiano; set aside.

Cooking:

The first part of cooking will not take as long as when cooking the risotto.

Heat a large saute pan on medium-high; add one tablespoon of butter and the slices of beef only chorizo; stir well. There isn’t a lot of fat in beef only chorizo but there is some so that will begin to render and the sausage slices will begin to break apart. Cook about five minutes until caramelized.
- While this is cooking, heat a saute pan over medium-high heat.
- Add the slices of beef and pork chorizo; saute until rendered and crispy; set aside.
Add the onions and saute about two minutes until they turn translucent.

From this point on you will need to be at the stove continuously; stirring, adding water/stock, and tasting the rice until it’s cooked but still “toothy”, meaning it has a slight bite and not mushy. (“Al dente” literally means “to the tooth” in Italian.)

Add the superfino arborio rice; continuously stir for about 3 minutes.
- This step is called “parching”. You are warming up the uncooked arborio; preparing it to absorb the stock more rapidly than if it were at room temp.
Reduce heat to medium.
While continuously stirring, add the simmering stock one ladle at a time.
- This method slowly coaxes out the starch in the rice as it expands, creating the creaminess that we love about risotto.
When the rice has absorbed most of the stock add another ladle and continue with this pattern until three-quarters of the simmering stock is used up.
At this point, you want to begin tasting a few grains of the rice at a time to check for doneness.
Continue stirring, adding stock, and tasting until it’s just about done.
Stir in the peas and cook for about one minute (you’re just warming them up a bit).
Add the Parmesan Reggiano and remaining butter. Mix well.
The dish is now done.
Plate and garnish with the crispy slices of beef and pork Spanish chorizo.