Chicken, bacon and pea risotto

In trying to introduce Rob to different food and meals I thought risotto would be a good one as long as there was meat in it, he likes rice after all! So I decided to make a chicken and bacon risotto for him and then decided as I was cooking to throw some peas in because I know he likes them and getting him to eat veg at any opportunity all is a very good thing.

The problem was hiding the onion in the recipe. Usually when he's halfway through a cottage pie or bolognese he'll notice the diced onion and be all picky, so I decided to grate the onion and hide it, but this technique also gave me the opportunity to enter Joelen's new blog event: Tasty Tools. This month the tool to be using is the kitchen grater or the "microplane".





Chicken, bacon and pea risotto

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, grated
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 bacon rashers, cut into 2" pieces
8 oz arborio rice
2/3 cup dry white wine
700ml hot vegetable stock
2 chicken breasts, diced and cooked
300g tin of marrowfat peas (about 180g drained weight)
1 oz butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Recipe
1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and add the onion, garlic and bacon pieces. Fry over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes, until softened and the bacon is cooked through.
2. Stir in the rice and coat in the oil. Pour in the wine and simmer, stirring, until the liquid has been absorbed.
3. Add a ladleful of the stock and simmer, stirring again, until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock in this way, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is plump and tender. Add the drained peas and chicken pieces with the last ladle of stock and reduce the heat.
4. Stir in the butter, salt and pepper. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.