This dish came about one night as I was craving risotto but didn’t want white rice or to fuss over trying to create a risotto dinner with the wild rice blend I had. It turned out exactly as I had hoped. The flavours are rich and comforting without being overly heavy. I was told it would be a great date night dish….Valentine’s Day perhaps?

Rice-

• 6 servings of rice of choice, I used lundberg wild rice blend
• 1 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp herbamare, feel free to add less or skip this if you are watching your sodium intake
• 2 cloves garlic

Mushroom sausage blend-

• 1 pound crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 package of sausage, chopped
• 2 tsp thyme
• 1 cup diced tomato
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1/2 cup good quality parmesan cheese

For topping-

• Parsley
• Fresh diced tomato
• Pine nuts
• Fresh grated parmesan

Make-

1. Cook rice according to package….with a few alterations, use broth instead of water and replace 1 1/4 cup of the broth with white wine. Toss in 2 whole crushed cloves of garlic and salt.
2. While the rice is cooking work on the mushrooms and sausage. In a large pan over medium heat cook the onions in 2 tbsp of butter for about 4 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook stirring occasionally, for 13 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more.
5. Add the sausage and thyme, stirring occasionally until the sausage has cooked through, about 9-11 minutes. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan loosening the brown bits.
6. Add the tomato, soy sauce and white wine, cook until the wine has been absorbed.
7. Remove from heat.
8. Stir in the 1/4 cup of cream and 1/2 cup of parmesan.
9. Once the rice has finished cooking mix with the mushrooms and sausage.
10. If you want you can season with salt and pepper.
11. Serve topped with fresh parsley, tomato and pine nuts.
12. Enjoy.