Leek & Bacon Risotto
The way I became skilled at cooking was to follow tonnes of recipes. Most of the time I made a little discovery while preparing a meal; whether it was how to use an exotic ingredient, a new method of cooking an ingredient or simply finding a match made in flavour heaven. Cooking is an exciting journey with no destination because it is impossible to know everything. Bottom line? Just enjoy the ride.
Yesterday I tried yet another recipe. Potato, pea, tomato and spinach curry. Sounds yummy, right? Everything went well. The potatoes cooked slowly in the thick, bubbling tomato sauce and it tasted divine. Slowly I added the peas. So far so good. Last step, add the spinach. Result? Disaster. Recently I started eating spinach, first raw and then cooked. One thing I forgot about spinach it that when you cook it, it creates a lot of water. My lovely tomato sauce became disgustingly watery and the flavour diluted to oblivion. Aargh! How can some recipes even get published? Is it possible that the creator of this dish found the result acceptable?!
Speaking of recipe testing, BBC Good Food magazine boasts that it tests all of the 101 recipes in each issue. I have to admit, they do quite a good job at putting the publication together, because I’ve never had a flop.
That said, here is my entry to Michelle’s from Thursday Night Smackdown First Thursdays event.
Leek & Bacon Risotto
Preparation: 10 mins – Cooking: 20 mins
Ingredients
- 15ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
- 8 rashers bacon
- 4 leeks, sliced
- 350g (12 oz) risotto (arborio) rice
- 200ml (6½ fl oz) white wine
- 800ml (1½ pint) hot vegetable stock
- grated parmesan, optional
Method
- Heat the oil in the big pot and fry the bacon to your liking (just cooked or very crispy). Remove the bacon. When it has cooled, chop it into bite-sized pieces.
- Add the leeks to the pot and fry for 2 minutes until starting to soften.
- Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute, stirring.
- Add the wine and stock, and then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes until the rice is tender.
- Remove the rice from the heat, add the bacon pieces, then stir in the parmesan if desired and some freshly ground pepper. Serve immediately.
Serving Suggestion
- Enjoy this plate of delight with a glass of white wine.
This looks delicious! And although I’m sure I could decide how much Leek I want, I thought I’d point out that your recipe is missing Leeks as an ingredient! ^_^
by Sarah
on 06. Jul, 2008
[...] Greedy Gourmet highly recommends BBC Good Food Magazine, and has never found one of its recipes to be a flop yet. Least of all this leek and bacon risotto. [...]
by thursday night smackdown » Blog Archive » July 2008 First Thursday: The Roundup
on 07. Jul, 2008
It looking good for foodlovers like me.If it spice
then then it mean for me..
http://www.letsgoeat.co.uk
by foodlover
on 07. Jul, 2008
I love leeks and bacon in combination. Nice risotto!
by Ann
on 07. Jul, 2008
Seriously, everything is better with bacon and this is no exception! Looks wonderful!
by Joelen
on 07. Jul, 2008
You had me at bacon!
That is beautiful and I imagine that it tastes wonderful. I will be most certainly be making this soon. All five of my sons are nutty for risotto and adding bacon will gain me Mom-points!
by Rebecca (Foodie With Family)
on 08. Jul, 2008
Leeks + bacon = a match made in heaven. I often make this combo (sometimes also with courgettes) as a pasta sauce – will definitely give this risotto a whirl. Looks gorgeous too!
by Jeanne
on 10. Jul, 2008
[...] Rucola and Bresaola Risotto, while Michelle uses crisp bacon and wonderfully aromatic leeks in her Leek and Bacon Risotto. When it comes to perfect meat and vegetables pairings, it doesn’t get much better than [...]
by FoodieView Blog » Recipe Roundup: How to Make a Great Risotto
on 03. Nov, 2008
Hi Michelle. Thanks for this delicious recipe! We so excited to have it included in this week’s FoodieView Recipe Roundup!
by Michele
on 06. Nov, 2008
Made the risotto last night but substituted some chopped up italian cured meats instead of the bacon as this was what was in my fridge. One word… delicious!
by Louise
on 02. Feb, 2010