Dill Sistas: Bacon & Goat Cheese Risotto

I love risotto, and am always on the lookout for new combinations to try. I feel like it's one of those foods you can easily impress people with and trick them into thinking you are super fancy, when in actuality, it's almost outrageously easy to throw together. The most difficult part of risotto making is standing there and babysitting it while it cooks, and turns plain rice and broth into a fantastical rich, starchy, cheesey treat.

The two most particular things when it comes to making risotto are making sure that you have the appropriate rice (look for risotto rice or Italian style rice in the store. It may be in the ethnic food aisle or with the rest of the rices) and the temperature of the stock you are adding to the risotto as it cooks. If the stock is cool or room temperature, it will take longer to cook, so I typically heat up my stock beforehand so that the cooking process is as efficient as possible.

Bacon and Goat Cheese Risotto
Author: Amanda
Difficulty: intermediate
Serves: 4 main portions, 6 side portions (approximately)

Ingredients

1 cup dry risotto rice
1 cup white wine
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 package 500g bacon or most of a 325g package
100g soft goat cheese, or about 4 tablespooons
2-4 cups chicken stock, as required

Directions
Slice bacon into small segments and pan fry until crispy. Remove from pan, and set aside. Drain bacon grease into appropriate receptacle, reserving some leftover in the pan. Mince the garlic and slice the onion into half-moons. Caramelize the onion in the bacon grease on medium-low heat, stirring often, until onions are brown in colour and very soft, for approximately 15-20 minutes. Once the onions are caramelized, add the minced garlic and thyme. Add the dry risotto, and one cup of white wine. Once the wine has mostly evaporated/been absorbed, add chicken stock about 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly on medium heat. Continue to add chicken stock in 1/2-1 cup increments until risotto is soft. Turn off the heat, add the crispy bacon and goat cheese and combine well. Serve.

Step-by-Step Photos

Slice the bacon so that the pieces will fry evenly and are about the same size. I typically halve a package of bacon down the middle like this, and save the other half for future use. However, if you only have a 375g package of bacon (which seems to be the new standard), you could probably use most if it not all of it.

Start frying up the bacon pieces on medium heat until they are crispy.

After washing off that cutting board because cross-contamination is super gross, mince the garlic and slice the red onion into half-moons.

Set aside the crispy bacon pieces until the risotto is ready for them. I didn't bother blotting off the extra grease because I am an animal.

This was the grease I poured off the pan. I never throw out bacon grease - it is super delicious to fry pretty much anything in (especially eggs). I will also use it to make my own refried beans.

Reserving some grease in the pan (I would guessitmate 2-3 tablespoons), turn the heat back on to medium-low and add the red onion.

Stir the onion slices frequently, until they start to turn brown in colour. This will take 15-20 minutes, so be patient. Caramelized onions are delicious and have a sweetness to them, and because these were fried in the bacon grease, they also have that delicious bacon smokey-ness in them too. Drool.

Once the onions are caramelized, add the minced garlic and dried thyme.

Add the dry risotto rice and cup of white wine, and turn the heat up to medium. (I forgot to take a picture of the wine, so you will have to forgive me.) From here on out, you will want to be stirring the risotto pretty frequently, and ensure that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add (hot) chicken stock in increments of 1/2-1 cup at a time, while continuing to stir very frequently. The best way to tell when the risotto is done is to taste it - if it is still crunchy you need to keep going. Once you have reached a desired consistency, turn off the heat.