recipe review: bacon risotto

quasi-landlord is out of town for a week, and so are her dogs, so i suppose you could say that i'm on a staycation of sorts for a week. the house being relatively empty means that i can cook w/o said dogs barking up a storm. it also means i can cook w/o having to worry about quasi-landlord's allergies.

i decided earlier this week that i would attempt 2 different batches of risotto during the coming week. i read a cookbook a couple of weeks that said you could make risotto in a slow cooker, which, when i think about it, makes sense and i feel a bit dense for not thinking of it sooner. i mean, i love risotto, but i don't have the patience/attention span to make it at home.

first up? bacon risotto. i don't really need to explain why, do i? i mean, c'mon. bacon risotto. 2 of my favorite foods in one dish? yes, please. sign me the entire hell up.

unfortunately, i don't have a link (i may or may not have photocopied this recipe from the aforementioned cookbook), but since it's relatively short, i will type it out for you here:

Bacon Risotto (serves 4) 

6 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
1 white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice, rinsed
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (to add at the very end) 

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. In a large skillet over medium heat, add the bacon, onion, and garlic and cook, stirring until the bacon is crisp and the onion and garlic are translucent. Drain off most of the accumulated grease (retaining about 1 tablespoon) and pour the mixture into the insert. Add the rice, and swirl it around until the rice is nicely coated in oil. Pour in the broth. Cover, and cook on high for 2 to 4 hours, or until the rice is tender (check after 2 hours; it usually takes 2 hours, 45 minutes in my machine). Stir well, and add the cheese. Turn off the cooker, and let the risotto sit with the lid off for 10 minutes before serving.

i used 3 garlic cloves instead of 2 b/c regular readers of these reviews know that i love me some garlic. i used low-sodium chicken broth (and even got the organic low-sodium kind b/c it was on sale at jewel - win!), and went with a few handfuls of shredded parmesan cheese instead of grated b/c that's what was in the fridge. oh, and i added some black pepper before i added the broth - maybe a 1/2 teaspoon or so? i eyeballed it and therefore can't give you an exact measurement.

the slow cooker that quasi-landlord has is probably a 6-quart model, if not an 8-quart one, so i set the timer for 2 hours on high and figured that the rice would be tender by then. i was right. i added the cheese and then left the slow cooker on the "warm" setting until i was ready for dinner. i had some leftover broccoli from the other night, so i warmed that up and added it to my dinner bowl. nom. i definitely recommend some sort of vegetable on the side or mixed in to cut through the cheesetastic goodness.

if i make it again, i might cut back to an hour and 30 minutes of cooking time. the risotto was tender almost to the point of being gummy, which i'm ok with, but it could have been better. and yeah, i'd probably add more garlic. i was impatient and didn't let the bacon get fully crisp b/c the onions and garlic were in that sweet spot between perfectly browned and oh shit everything is burning. maybe i'd cook the bacon first and then let that drain while cooking the onion & garlic in the bacon fat. oh, and i didn't drain anything b/c there was barely a tablespoon of grease by the time i deemed it ready to go in the slow cooker.

the same cookbook has a recipe for spinach and feta risotto, which i'm going to make before thanksgiving. mmm...spinach and feta...