SAWCLicious: Bacon & Mushroom Risotto

When I was in college, my brothers and I decided we should be preparing dinner at home so that my mom would not be too stressed. My two brothers would be responsible for weekday dinners, my mom for Saturday dinner, and I prepare food for Sunday dinner. There were mainly 2 reasons why I cook only on Sunday dinner. First, since I go home late compared to my brothers during weekdays, I could not prepare dinner for the family. Mainly though, I am the worst cook at home so they let me cook once a week on the night where we eat out half of the time. Whenever I cook, my brothers would just try to gobble down everything following a glass of Coke.

My mom started to commend me of my cooking, the first time that I cooked risotto. Risotto, for me, is one of the easiest thing to cook. As long as you focus and have the time and patience stirring the rice, you would be able to eat a pretty decent homemade risotto.

So, I'll be sharing one of my risotto recipes.

BACON & MUSHROOM RISOTTO (Goes well with STEAKS!)

Ingredients

• 1-2 tbsp. of Butter
• 2 cloves of Garlic, chopped
• 2 medium White Onions, minced
• 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 cup of Dry White Wine, warmed
• 1.5 cups Fresh Bottom White, chopped
• 6 pcs. Bacon, chopped
• 150 grams Arborio Rice (3 servings)
• 5 tbsps. grated Parmesan Cheese
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 liter of Chicken Stock (or use 2 chicken cubes and boil 1 liter of water)
• Chives for garnish

Procedure

1. Boil chicken stock in a separate pan. If you do not have the time to boil chicken stock, you can either buy the packed chicken stock or use 2 chicken cubes in 1 liter of water.
2. Heat olive oil and butter in a separate pan. Add the garlic, onions, and bacon. Saute the 1st three ingredients slowly in medium-low heat.
3. Once onion looks a bit translucent, add in the mushrooms and saute for around 10 minutes. 
4. Place the heat to high and add in the rice. Once you add in the rice, the only thing your hand needs to do is STIR. When the rice looks a bit translucent, add in the warmed wine. Allow the rice to absorb the wine. Don't forget to keep on STIRRING.
5. Once the rice absorbs the wine, turn the heat to medium-low and start adding the stock. It should always be a 1-2-3 step when adding the stock. (1) Add 1 cup stock (2) Stir  (3) Taste . Keep doing 1-2-3 until the rice is creamy, soft, but with a slight bite. It would take you around 20-25 minutes. NOTE: If you run out of chicken stock, don't PANIC! Add some boiling water instead.
6. Add in the Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chives on top.
7. EAT WHILE IT'S HOT!

I always like it with steak and red wine! It also goes well with Grilled Fish. Bon Appetit!