What’s cooking today: Bacon, blue cheese and baby spinach risotto

Here’s a recipe for using up that arborio rice you have in a carton in a cupboard and that bacon you bought on special the other day. If you’re like me, there’s often a bit of blue cheese lying forgotten somewhere in the fridge door, and the one bit of luxury is either mascarpone or regular old cream, but if that’s a stretch, leave it out and use more wine and stock instead. Or just more stock.

The more often I cook risotto, the more I’m convinced it’s a string every family cook should have in their bow. It’s so pleasing to make, so easy once you’ve developed a knack for it, everything happens in one pot and, as soon as it’s done, it’s ready for serving. No extras, no stress.

The blue cheese in this is creamy Danish, softened by the inclusion of mascarpone as well, as I wanted the blue cheese to be a mild counterbalance to the bacon. There’s also wine, stock and baby spinach leaves, which are simply folded through the risotto right at the end.

Ingredients

200 g streaky bacon, diced

1 large onion, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

300 g arborio rice

½ a cup quality olive oil such as Babylonstoren Frantoio or Coratina, or Klein Nektar extra virgin olive oil (more if needed)

3 cups dry white wine

1 litre chicken stock (or vegetable)

250 ml mascarpone

25o ml cream

100 g Danish blue cheese

2 cups baby spinach

½ cup grated Parmesan and more to grate on top when serving

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

Method

Have your wine, heated stock and mascarpone to hand, and a ladle. Have the blue cheese ready too, chopped into bits.

In a large heavy-bottomed pan (I use the pan of a Le Creuset buffet, perfect for risotto), cook the diced streaky bacon in a dash of olive oil until crisped up. Remove the bacon to a side bowl, but retain a tablespoon of the cooked bacon to use for garnish when you serve the risotto. Take advantage of the bacon fat now in the pan as it will add to the risotto’s flavour.

Add the onions and garlic and sauté them until softened. Again, use a slotted spoon to scoop them off.

Now add plenty of olive oil, on the heat. Pour in all the arborio rice and stir with a wooden spoon to coat it and, if it is not well coated, add more olive oil and cook gently, stirring often, until the rice has a lovely pale golden sheen all over, stirring gently all the while. Season to taste with salt and white pepper.

Return the cooked onion and bacon to the pan as well and, on a low to moderate heat, keep stirring while you add a little of the wine at a time until it is all incorporated, followed by the heated stock, also a little at a time, until that is all incorporated. It’s best to use a flat-edged wooden spatula. Go slowly, as the rice must not be overworked. Gentle moving of the rice this way and that to prevent it catching is all that’s needed.

Now stir in half of the cream and the mascarpone, and the chopped or crumbled blue cheese. Taste to check the seasoning. Continue cooking very gently, stirring to prevent it catching, until you have a creamy risotto with the grains al dente and not broken up.

Add the baby spinach all at once and fold through while it wilts into the risotto. Serve immediately garnished with bacon bits and grated or shaved Parmigiano Reggiano on top. Sprinkle remaining bits of bacon on top. DM/TGIFood

Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Champion 2021. His book, foodSTUFF, is available in the DM Shop. Buy it here. 

Mervyn Gers Ceramics supplies dinnerware for the styling of some TGIFood shoots. For more information, click here.

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