Salsiccia - the italian sausage

The italian sausage - salsiccia, originates from the region of Basilicata in southern Italy.

Today the salsiccia is used in the italian kitchen in every part of Italy, and it is a bit difficult to determine how it got this far around but probably tradesmen brought the sausage with them to other parts of the country where they were adopted in the regional kitchen recipes.

The salsiccia is made of minced pork, low-fat with small bits of fat and only added a bit of salt and pepper to flavour the sausage.

You can find different types of salsiccia with additional flavours, like for example peperoncino, redwine, smoked flavour, fennel or parsley. They come in a wide range of different shapes - long or short, and different tastes.

The salsiccia is in summertime a well used ingredient for a nice dinner on the grill, in pasta-dishes, with vegetables or in a nice risotto.

Try this recipe for risotto with redwine and salsiccia:
 Serves 4

350 gr risottorice, like Arborio
250 gr salsiccia, skinned
1 onion, chopped
40 gr butter
1 glass of redwine
6 cups of meat stock
4 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the chopped onion and crumbled sausage. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionaly.

Stir in the rice and let the rice get coated in the butter. Add the glass of redwine and let it evaporate.

Add the warm stock a ladleful at a time, until the rice is tender and cooked.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese and a tablespoon of butter.

Leave to rest for about 2 minutes.

Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.