As some of you may know, I wrote my first article for Taste Today last week, and it was based on the wonderful Cheshire Smokehouse, their history, their food and their amazing shop based just on the outskirts of Wilmslow, Cheshire.
As part of the article, I chose a product off their shelves and with the help of the Smokehouse’s owner Darren Ward, told the readers all about the full life cycle of their wonderful smoked streaky bacon. I then put it in this wonderfully indulgent, satisfying and creamy risotto.
You can read the full article on Taste Today’s website by clicking here, but for now, please enjoy the recipe from it! This scrumptious dish serves 4 people and takes about 35 minutes.
Mushroom & ‘Smokehouse’ Smoked Streaky Bacon Risotto
What you need:
- 1 white onion, finely chopped
- 250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 6-8 rashers of The Cheshire Smokehouse Smoked Streaky Bacon, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1L good quality chicken stock
- 300g risotto rice
- Handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Zest of one lemon
- 100ml dry white wine (plus extra, for sipping whilst stirring, if desired!)
- 1 bay leaf
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Parmesan cheese, grated to serve
What to do:
- Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or ceramic casserole dish and cook the onion and Cheshire Smokehouse Smoked Streaky Bacon for 5 minutes until soft.
- Add the mushrooms, garlic and bay leaf, and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes – until the mushrooms really start to release their juices.
- Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Add the wine, and continue to cook (and stir) until all the liquid and juices from the mushrooms have been absorbed.
- Next, add the stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring well and waiting for most of the stock to be absorbed before adding the next ladleful. This process with take about 20 minutes – so I recommend you grab yourself a glass of wine as a reward for all this laborious activity!
- Continue until all the stock is added and the rice is cooked.
- Once the rice is cooked, removed the risotto from the heat and add the lemon zest, fresh parsley and season to taste with the black pepper.
- Serve with a little extra parsley and some grated Parmesan.
Hope you enjoy this one, love Sophie -x-
