15 kilometers separates Monza from Milan. Yet the people of Monza have always bragged about their own cultural identity and have taken pride in their differences from the metropolis. Even in the kitchen. So the risotto in the city of Teodolinda became white -- without saffron and without marrow like in Milan. Like all regional dishes, variations of traditional dishes can’t be counted… and they vary from house to house. Of course, there are those who add saffron -- but the distinctive feature of Monza’s risotto is the luganega, the typical Monza sausage. Very soft, with a delicate and unmistakable taste: it is prepared with very finely minced pork, grana cheese and white wine.
The luganega is a sausage that’s generally lean, containing only 25% fat on average. And a particularly lean version is the meat used by chef Fabio Silva: “With my trusted butcher, we were able to create a mixture of leaner pork with less fat while maintaining the typical taste of Monza luganega,” he explains.
Chef's advice
The chef of Derby Grill, the restaurant at the Hotel de la Ville in Monza, advises those who want to prepare this risotto to "toast the rice well before starting to wet it with broth. In this way, the sugars crystallize and, during cooking, less starch is released, keeping the grain more intact.” His recipe includes oil for browning — besides the luganega, the traditional version is usually added to butter and onion in the sauté. The latter can also be replaced with shallot while a touch of thyme gives a new Mediterranean scent to the dish.
Italian Sausage Risotto Recipe
Serves 4
Ingredients
10 oz. carnaroli rice,1 oz. chopped shallot, 3 oz. Alpine butter, 1 quart vegetable stock, 9 oz. sausage (the traditional one is called luganega), 2 ½ oz. Parmigiano Reggiano, White wine, 1 sprig of thyme, Extra virgin olive oil, Salt and pepper
Method
Remove half the luganega from the gut, shell it and brown it quickly with a drop of oil in a non-stick pan. Use the same procedure for the other half, leaving it whole. In the meantime, fry shallots with a dab of butter. Then add rice and toast it. Wet with the white wine and once evaporated, continue cooking with vegetable stock, adding gradually.
Halfway through cooking, add shelled luganega and thyme. Finish cooking and stir the risotto with butter and Parmigiano Reggiano, adding salt and pepper to taste. Cut luganega into pieces or leave it whole and use it to garnish the risotto after slicing.