For dinner last night I tried my hand at a parmesan risotto and asparagus wrapped in bacon. It turned out well and the parmesan, bacon and asparagus went together beautifully. I got the risotto recipe from ‘Complete Vegetarian’ by Nicola Graimes and the bacon/ asparagus I got from my head! Risotto is really easy to make and can be modified in any way you can imagine.

*I made just a couple of changes along the way.

Ingredients

15ml/ 1 tbsp olive oil
small knob of butter
1 onion chopped finely
* 350g/ 1 3/4 cups of risotto rice (I used arborio)
* 1.2 litres/ 5 cups of hot vegetable stock (I used chicken stock)
50g/ 3/4 cup of grated fresh parmesan
* salt and pepper (I used whole peppercorns ground with a pestle and mortar)
* (1 glass of white wine)

1. Heat the oil and butter in a large pan, then cook the onion for 7 minutes until soft, stirring occasionally. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains in the hot oil and butter.
2. Add a quarter of the hot stock and cook over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until the liquid is absorbed. * I added a glass of white wine at this point. Add more stock, a little at a time, stirring, until all the liquid is added and absorbed.
3. After about 20 minutes, the grains should be creamy but still retain a bite. Turn off the heat, stir in parmesan cheese and check the seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

If you fancy the bacon and asparagus, I wrapped 2 stalks of asparagus at a time in smoked rashers. These were then put on a baking tray, sprinkled with pepper, drizzled with olive oil and cooked at 200 degreesC for about 10 minutes. The fat of the bacon stops the asparagus from drying out and makes it even more yummy than plain asparagus!

You can also put any sort of side salad with the meal, but my favourite is rocket and cherry tomatoes. (I added cucumber as well because hubby generally ends up picking off the tomatoes and eating just the leaves!)

Enjoy! Let me know if you try the recipe!

Emma x