Asparagus and Turkey bacon Risotto

Asparagus and Turkey bacon Risotto uses one my favourite vegetables and the smokey, but lean flavour of turkey bacon.  I love rice anytime of year.  My mom, Nilde is the ultimate chef of rice.  She can take the simplest ingredient and incorporate it into the dish.  When last I visited she made a zucchini flower rice which was devoured by all.

It’s a little cooler today, and I want some comfort food and we both love rice.  When we are in Italy, we often eat a rice salad in the summer;  I make my own version which I will share in another post. Rice is one of the most important staples in the world and cooked by many cultures.  I found some interesting facts about this comfort food and you can read them at http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat54/sub343/item1580.html

If we are not feeling well, it is also a good food.  Boiled and eaten with a little olive oil and grated cheese cures many stomach ailments.  Sometimes my nonna would serve it in a chicken broth for extra comfort.  I hope you enjoy this dish with the turkey bacon flavour.

I use a turkey bacon and fresh asparagus from the local market.  A little olive oil gives it an added level of flavour.

The rice begins with some onion and olive oil; each grain of rice is toasted in the oil.  Then we hit it with a good white wine.

Oh the colours of love.

After 10 minutes, we marry the bacon, asparagus and rice.

The liquid added a little at a time; here it just hits the pot.

I plate it and then will add some more cheese and a little drizzle of olive oil.

Print

Asparagus and Turkey Bacon Risotto

Course Main Course

Cuisine Home Cooking in Canada, Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Author Renata Solski

Ingredients

The Rice

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion thinly diced
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup grated parmigiano
• 2 tbsp butter

The Asparagus and Turkey Bacon

• 6 slices turkey bacon finely sliced and diced
• 1 bunch baby asparagus
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

The Rice

1. Warm up your broth.

   Place a pot on medium heat.

   Put in your olive oil and onion. Soften the onion.

   Add rice and toast it for a minute.

   Now add in the white wine.

   As soon as the wine evaporates, begin to ladle in the warm broth. Keep stirring and ensure that the broth evaporates before you add more broth.

   Continue these steps until your rice is at your required taste. We like it al dente, but it is your choice. Don't make it too mushy.  

   After 10 minutes add the asparagus and bacon.  Continue ladling the hot broth.  

The Asparagus and the Turkey Bacon

1. Rinse asparagus under cold water.

   Check out this short video on how to clean asparagus :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lymoBafFwso

   For this recipe, I cut the asparagus diagonally into small bites.

   Put the turkey bacon into the pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil.  

   Once the bacon starts to brown throw in the asparagus.

   Cook for a minute leaving the asparagus crunchy.  It will cook more in the rice.  

   
   

The Assembly

1. Once the rice is cooked, remove it from the element and add in the butter and cheese. In Italian we call this mantecare.

   Plate on a large platter or individual plates.  Use some basil as a garnish and drizzle a little more olive oil over the rice.  

   
   

Recipe Notes

I love Gennarao Contaldo's simple method of making risotto and you can watch it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOBihHeZuXE