Hey Risotto!

It's a use-the-leftovers kinda day up in here.  We had a bunch of things opened and half used and I wanted to avoid them meeting the compost bag so I put my thinking cap on.  I had half a sweet potato (last time we were at the Farmer's Market we got a football sized one and this is the third meal it's been involved in!), half a container of goat cheese, half a package of maple smoked bacon and half an onion, among other things.  I decided that the best thing to do would be a risotto.

The best things in life begin with bacon, don't you agree?

And involve butter and olive oil...

And minced up roasted garlic.....

Oh dear god the smells, it was like I'd died and gone to culinary heaven.  Next came the almighty arborio.

Sometimes when I tell people I am making a risotto, they become, I think, overly impressed and exclaim over their own personal risotto-making hardships.  It's possible that some people may not understand how very, very absorbent arborio is and treat it like other rices, just throwing in some water and and hoping for the best.  The truth and the trick to risotto is that you have to babysit it, stand over it and lovingly add more and more liquid, little by little, and stir almost constantly.  Give equal affection to each and every little grain and, like raising a well behaved and polite child, you will be rewarded in the end.  

I stirred the rice into the melted butter, oil and garlic, making sure it was all coated and warmed up a little.

I like to use broth instead of water whenever I have some on hand.

Next I added about half the rest of the sweet potato, chopped up fairly small.

 Twenty minutes and almost a litre of broth and lots of stirring later...

 The rice has pretty much quadrupled in size.  If you're feeding two hungry people, one cup is enough!

Next came the goat cheese.  Parmesan is the traditional cheese of choice but I thought this would be a nice change.

Then the crispy bacon.

I gave everything a final few stirs and a few more minutes over the heat for the flavours to all meet and fall madly in love.

Some people like a firmer, drier risotto.  I am a fan of the creamer, softer kind.  It's just a matter of how long you cook it and how much extra moisture you add.

And voila!

Man, would I ever like to take a class or something on food photography.  

Anyhoo, I'm off to bring some yummy risotto to the ever hard-working BF.  Hope I can make it all the way without taste-testing to make sure it's ok!

Till next time!