Pea and Bacon Risotto

I have been thinking about making a pea risotto for a while, bright white rice studded with vivid green peas. As you can see however it didn’t quite work out as I intended…

The peas became dull and lost their brilliant green hue, I guess I cooked them too long. The idea of cooking the peas for longer was that more flavour from peas would come through – but that didn’t really work either.

Despite not working out as I wanted it was still a great meal, it’s just next time I will mash half the peas into the risotto at the start (to add flavour), and add the second half a couple of minutes before serving (all for the eyes and fresh taste).

Pea and Bacon Risotto

By Coffee Muffins

Total time: 35 minutes
Yield: 3 dinner sized portions.

  • splash of olive oil.
  • 1 onion, diced.
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed.
  • 2 sticks of celery, thinly sliced.
  • 3 rashers of bacon, fat cut off, and sliced
  • 150 grams of risotto rice, I use Arborio
  • 100 grams of peas, I would half at the start a little mashed, and then half at the end.
  • 500 ml of vegetable stock, from a cube – you can use better quality if you want
  • black pepper
  • grated grana padano

Add the olive oil, onion, celery, bacon and garlic into a hot saute pan. Stir and cook until the onion softens, then add the rice, cooking for another couple of minutes. Add the first half of the peas. Now add the stock, all of it at once.

Put the lid on the saute pan, once the stock is boiling turn the heat down to a low simmer. I know this isn’t standard method for risotto – but if you’ve just come home from work pouring ladles of stock at a time can get boring fast.

Check on the risotto periodically to ensure it doesn’t get too dry (add more water if necessary), stir it so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. How long your risotto takes will depend on the rice, but I would check after the first 20 minutes, and then in 5 minute intervals.

Two minutes before serving add the last of the peas, season with black pepper. When serving top each serving with grated grana padano.

I think risottos make a great spring dish, they are not too heavy and depending on the veggies (and how long you cook them) can taste fresh and green.

Recently I have been more busy adding features to the blog than actually doing any blogging. You might have noticed CommentLuv on the comments form recently, which allows you to link to a post on your blog, especially useful if you have posted something relevant recently.

I have also added “social media” links to the end of each post, (they are sort of hard to miss) so if you use twitter and stumbleupon they might be interesting to you.

I’m just experimenting so let me know whether you love or hate them 😉