Sometimes the food you scrounge out of your pantry creates the most brilliant, creative dishes (I made this recipe up using tidbits of ingredients from the fridge and hidden pantry treasures). That is not to say the dish I am about to share with you was in in any way brilliant, but it WAS surprisingly tasty and chock full of fall flavor!
The dish I'd like to share with you is:
Apple Risotto with Cheddar and Bacon
Ingredients:
1 cup arborio rice
2 tblsp butter
1 tblsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups chicken broth (good quality or homeade works best, or veggie if you are veggie)
3 slices of bacon (more if you like, that just happened to be what I had sitting around)
1 medium apple, chopped (I used one I found at the farmer's market...a jonemac or some such nonsense)
1 1/2 cups finely shredded extra sharp cheddar
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 shallot, minced
1 medium onion, diced
2 tblsp apple cider vinegar
Splash of apple cider
salt and pepper to taste
SOOoooo...first get yourself a nice, heavy bottomed pan of medium size.
Heat butter and oil over a medium flame, adding shallot and onion as it melts. Let onion become a bit translucent, then add the cup of arborio rice.
Make sure the rice toasts up nicely in there for at least 2 minutes (according to most recipes,until the kernels themselves become transclucent- however, I have never actually seen that happen. Just don't burn it). Now, throw in the apple cider vinegar with the apple cider. Let that soak up into the rice. Make sure you are stirring enough so that the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan (that is horrifying to scrub off of pans, trust me).
Now begins the broth ritual. Add a big ladleful of broth to the rice and stir it in. Once this has been absorbed, repeat until the broth is gone. Depending on your preference, you can make the risotto soupier by adding (duh) more broth. I like mine creamy and fluffy though.
While you've been doing all this other nonsense, you should soak the chopped apples in the cream. Not sure why or how, but this adds a major delicious factor. My theory is that the cream helps deacidify the apples. Plus, heavy whipping cream is incredibly indulgent and seriously when do you EVER eat it? Enjoy life a little, gees! Oh, and now is a good time to cook your bacon, however you like to do it. I microwaved it (because I felt lazy, but sometimes I bake it).
When most of the broth is in the rice, add the apples and cream. When its in there, finish up the broth. Get that all stirred up nice and add bacon and cheese. Mix it up, salt and pep it up, and eat it up!!!
So obviously since I made this up as I went along (with a few tips from the internetz), there are probably better ways to do it... maybe adding bacon during the onion/shallot melting session would give it some of that delicious bacony grease that I am clearly so fond of...
Do what you wish, but as is, this was a hit! The sweetness of the apples with salty bacon and creamy rice is the perfect meal for an October evening. Drink an Oktoberfest beer alongside it. Perfect!
