As much as I try to make my own sauces from scratch as much as possible, there are times when it is easy and less time consuming to buy a ready made pasta sauce, which only requires reheating and you can have a dish on the table in under 15 minutes.
Giovanni Rana, the famed legendary pasta master known for his lovingly-made ravioli, tortellini and pasta sauces from Verona, has recently launched a new range of fresh Italian sauces including the rustic Simply Italian Butter & Sage Sauce.
I wa asked to use this sauce in my cooking, and my first thought was it had to be something with mushrooms because they work so well with sage and butter, and with it being autumn mushrooms are bang on season right now.
I opted to make a risotto because it is such a simple dish to make BUT I figured that if I stared in the Simply Italian Butter & Sage Sauce at the end of its cooking time, it would make the risotto more creamy and velvety, turning a simple rustic dish into something more special and even tastier.
This dish took under 20 minutes to make which is perfect for when you need to feed yourself and/or your family in a hurry – like most meal times then! My risotto serves 2, so please double the quantities if you are making this for your family (although 1 tub of the butter and sage sauce would be plenty still i think).
- 1 tbsp olive oil and a knob of butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
- 150g rice - ideally risotto rice, but if like me you only have long grain, that will be fine too
- 150g mushrooms - I used a mix of chestnut and regular mushrooms, quartered
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 chicken (or use vegetable if you so wish) stock cube
- 250ml boiling water
- black pepper
- 1 tub of Giovanni Rana Simply Italian Butter & Sage Sauce
- 2 large field mushrooms
- knob of butter
- extra black pepper
- sprig of sage
- place the oil and butter in a non stick pan over a medium heat
- add the onions and garlic and cook for 3 minutes
- add the rice and continue to cook for another 2 minutes stirring most of the time
- add the mushrooms, stir and cook for 2 more minutes
- add the stock (mix the stock cube with the water ) a little at a time, stirring constantly and each time the rice starts to stick, add a little more of the stock
- meanwhile, heat some butter in a non stick frying pan over a medium heat and sauce the sliced field mushrooms with some black pepper until cooked
- back to the risotto : after 12 minutes the rice should be soft (add a little more boiling water if you run out of stock before the rice is cooked) and the risotto is creamy and has movement. (all rice will vary in its cooking time, so please check the packet first)
- pour in the Simply Italian Butter & Sage Sauce and stir through
- remove from the heat and serve, topped with some of the field mushroom slices, a sprig of sage and a twist of black pepper
This really was a very delicious meal – the sauce really did transform how I would normally make my mushroom risotto into something much, much better and tastier. Obviously a few more calories due to the cream content within the sauce, but totally worth it for such a creamy dish. With my other portion of left over risotto, I will be stuffing a pepper with it to have with some salad for lunch tomorrow – yummy!
How would you make use of this sauce in your cooking?
I was sent products from the Giovanni Rana range to review and cook with, aswell as being compensated for the ingredients I used.
It looks yummy.
this looks lovely – i love risotto! x
Thanks for the recipe! As a paella catering, we tend not to cook more rice dishes at home after coming from a hard day working, but you just made me want that risotto! We´ll try it one of these days! That one looks delicious! Hope to get the right texture and flavour! Cheers! 🙂