Red wine risotto with venison sausages

Having finished my thesis (YAY!) I decided to treat myself with some nice food because for the last week and a bit I've been eating only to keep myself from starving. Went to the german butcher near the Mater Hospital to get some handmade sausages. I decided to make a risotto to go with the venison sausages I got. 'The Silver Spoon' has a recipe for a sausage risotto, but that requires breaking up the sausage and cooking it with the rice. Since I wanted to taste the sausages by themselves, I decided to just make a red wine risotto instead.

I also realised that I had no butter, so I had to use olive oil instead, which probably takes away from the flavour of the risotto. After gently frying some a small onion in olive oil, I added about a cup of Arborio rice. Then, after the rice had been coated with oil (or butter if I had butter), half a cup of red wine was added (cheapo clear skin red wine... sigh), allowing it to evaporate. Over the next 20 minutes, ladles of boiling beef stock (750mL) was added one at a time into the rice, stirring and allowing it to absorb the stock. Meanwhile, the venison sausages were pan fried. The oil from the sausages was added to the rice to allow it to absorb the venison flavour.

I've never been too fond of how risotto looks... they look pretty sloppy and so on, but fortunately I'm not the only one who thinks that. Nonetheless, I'll add my photo anyway. The sausages were slightly dry from the cooking (I shouldn't remove ALL the oil next time), but the risotto was pretty good considering it was the first time I made risotto. The funny thing is, I have never cooked rice before, because I always just stick it in the rice cooker! Anyway, these venison sausages are simply superb and you'll do well to get your hands on some from that butcher. Such strong meaty flavour rounded off with an equally well rounded selection of spices and herbs. As it turns out, the owner is retiring soon, so better get in quick!