Apple Gouda Chicken Sausage and Corn Risotto
We almost always have AmyLu Apple and Gouda Chicken Sausages in our fridge or freezer from Costco. They are so good…gluten free, few ingredients, nitrate-free, easy to prepare (i.e. fully cooked), and did I mention that they have gouda in them? Sold. They come in a 3 packs with 7 sausages each, and are around $13. We’ve been buying them for as long as we’ve been Costco members, and have probably served them to anyone who has had dinner with us at one point or another. They are a straight-up staple here.
I was having trouble deciding what to make for dinner the other night when I spotted the container of risotto rice (arborio rice) in the pantry. Every time I make risotto, we love it and I always wonder why I don’t make it more often. Except when I think about it other times, I always see it as a finicky dish that takes too much effort. It’s not – that’s a lie. Just follow a recipe and it should turn out. It makes for a pretty great main dish because you can throw whatever veggies and/or meat into it and call it a meal. So I grabbed some of the chicken sausages from the fridge and cut them up into small pieces and searched in the fridge for a vegetable that sounded like a good pairing. Corn won. Not particularly creative, but I didn’t feel like digging around for other options.
It was SO good. We both had a second scoop of it and said how we’d love to have even more, but were full. There was about 1 serving left, and I had it for lunch the next day. Risotto doesn’t reheat that well (it gets sticky and thick), so don’t make much more than you need – or at least add more broth or water to it before reheating. I added some water to it before I refrigerated it, and that seemed to help with reheating because it was still pretty good. You can double the recipe if you need a lot though.
Ingredients
- 3 Apple and Gouda Chicken Sausages (fully cooked), cut into small pieces
- 3-4 cups vegetable or chicken broth or stock (stock is always better)
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1/2 a bag of frozen corn, or preferred vegetable
- Dried minced onion, or 1 small onion, diced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (I don't measure)
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced (I used frozen cubes)
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 1 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (or a blend of hard cheeses, which mine was)
- *I probably also added Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute to this. I tend to add it to almost everything.
- **Traditionally, this recipe would replace 1/2 cup of the stock with 1/2 cup of dry white wine. I just didn't have any open since I'm pregnant.
Instructions
- Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a separate pot. I didn't feel like using a pot, so I microwaved it in glass measuring cup, 2 cups at the beginning, 2 cups in the middle of cooking.
- Sauté onion in olive oil.
- Add the sausage, corn, thyme, and garlic, cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Stir in rice, coat well.
- Stir in 1 ladle of hot stock; stir until liquid is mostly absorbed, about 3-5 minutes. I stirred in about 1/2 cup at a time.
- Continue adding hot stock until rice is plump and creamy, stirring each addition until almost absorbed before adding more. Taste the rice for doneness - it should be al dente - have a bit of a chew...not mushy.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in remaining tablespoon of butter and parmesan cheese.
- Serve immediately
I was so hungry, that I couldn’t even take time to get a good picture. 
Love this!! They just stopped selling them at my Costco. Which Costco do you go to?
I think we got them at the Easton location last time.
How much corn?!
So sorry – I added it to the recipe. I believe I put in about 1/2 a bag of frozen corn, but I don’t measure for things like that. Just whatever your preference would be.
I don’t know if you still read blog comments on this blog, but I just made this recipe using frozen mixed veggies and fresh broccoli and it was amazing! Both me and my husband ate two helpings.