Risotto with greens & sausage
Makes at least 6 full servings

1 bunch mustard greens and/or dandelion greens and/or kale, destemmed and roughly chopped
1 tbsp butter or bacon fat or olive oil, plus 3 tbsp butter for finishing
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz sausage - mild italian would be your best bet but I used breakfast sausage from a friend’s pigs (thanks Michelle & Conrad!!)
approximately ½-1 tsp each of dried parsley, a smoky red pepper flake (I prefer piment d’espelette), and ground nutmeg
14 oz arborio rice, rinsed
1 cup dry white wine, if you have it - I don’t keep cooking wine on hand besides mirin, so I subbed an herbal infused homemade vinegar here
5 cups parmesan broth (or veggie or chicken, whatever you have)
1 cup freshly grated parmesan, plus extra for serving

Boil a pot of well-salted water and cook greens for about a minute, or until wilted. Remove and drain (a wire rack is great for draining greens).

Melt 1 tablespoon of your cooking fat in a large saucepan over medium heat, then add onions and garlic until the onions are softened and the garlic is fragrant. Add the sausage and saute, breaking it up with a spoon as you go, until brown. Season with salt, pepper, and recommended spices while you stir.

Add the rice and stir for one minute, then add the cooking wine and reduce the heat to medium low, simmering until the liquid is almost all absorbed. Add 1 cup of broth, again stirring until almost absorbed. Repeat this step with half cups of broth until you’ve used it up and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Mix in the greens and continue to cook until the rice is tender and creamy (about 15 more minutes). Mix in cheese and 3 tablespoons butter, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve with additional cheese grated on top.

Notes:

I adapted this recipe from bon appetit and recommend all the ingredient substitutions included above!
you can easily use frozen greens if you don’t have fresh, just skip the first step and add them frozen or slightly thawed and drained.
not included in the recipe, but you should season with salt & pepper at every step!
to serve, I added some deep immune savory salt from Well Deep Remedies, which is a blend of powdered mushrooms, thyme, and salt.
this risotto freezes quite well! I ate a serving when I cooked it, kept a serving in the fridge for lunch the next day, and froze the rest in pint jars. it’s still nourishing me for at least one meal a week <3
let me know if you want to know more about my herbal infused homemade vinegar in a future post ;)

Parmesan Broth
makes 2-4 quarts

olive oil
1 large yellow onion, not peeled or trimmed, quartered
6 cloves - 1 whole head garlic, not peeled or trimmed, halved or just smashed a lil
1 tsp dried rosemary or approximately 1 sprig fresh
a few sprigs of fresh parsley, thyme, and/or sage; or approx 1 tsp each dried (I used a mix of dried celery and parsley leaves, a pinch of dried thyme, and like 3 fresh sage leaves)
5-10 parmesan rinds (approx .75-1.5 pounds)
water to cover

In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil on medium. Add the onion and garlic and cook until lightly browned, just a few minutes. Then add the herbs and stir for about 30 seconds before adding the parmesan rinds and water to cover.

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and allow to cook, stirring every so often to keep the cheese from sticking to the pot, until the broth tastes as parmesan-y as you like. It could be done in 2-3 hours, but I cooked mine for about 4, adding water when it got more than a couple inches below the rim of the pot, because I wanted it strong and had about 2 pounds of rinds to work with.

Strain through a fine mesh sieve, cool, and store in fridge or freezer until use. I store broth in pint and quart deli containers that stack super well in the freezer. Use in any recipe that calls for broth-- it’s umami, salty, and a lil creamy too!

Notes:

some recipes for parm broth call for a carrot, which I think would taste great and add some nice color :)
you can put the rinds in a cheesecloth bag to keep the pot from getting too messy
for transparency, I’ll share that I am sure at least a third of the rinds i used in this broth were actually pecorino and not parm.

bitter greens risotto with sausage and parmesan broth