Pea and Bacon Oven Baked Risotto

Yum yum yum. There is nothing more comforting than a bowl full of rice

Ooooh, a risotto you put in the oven? That you don’t have to hover over, stirring and staring constantly?

It exists! I found it! And it is delicious!

This is for all the times you wanted to make a risotto mid-week but thought that that meant there was no chance of dinner getting on the table before bedtime.. Fry, stir, pour, cover, bake, done! This is my kind of meal, filling and flavourful and no-faff. There will be plenty of food here for three, or two with generous leftovers for the next days lunch!

Truth time: pretty much the main reason I like cooking peas is because I, without fail, play the Peter Kay “they don’t do peas.. has thou nowt moist?!” bit in my head anytime I think about peas.

Serves 2 with leftovers!

Ingredients

• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 shallot (optional), diced
• ½ chilli, (also optional) deseeded and diced finely
• 4 rashers of bacon, chopped
• 1 tsp oil
• 250g Arborio rice
• 750ml chicken stock
• 100ml white wine
• A generous handful of frozen peas
• 3 scallions, sliced thinly.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Begin, as we always do, with chopping the onions and garlic. Chilli and shallots are optional here. Set these aside and dirty your chopping board by chopping up the bacon.

Heat some oil in a pan and fry the diced bacon for a few minutes.

Throw in the diced veggies and stir. Cook for a further 5 minutes.

Stir through the rice, coating it all with the oil and various cooking juices. Allow to cook for one minute.

Stir through the stock and wine, and then tip the whole lot into a casserole dish, cover and stick in the oven. If you have an ovenproof pot thing then use that instead.

Cook for 30 minutes, stirring after 15. Remove from the oven with a few minutes to go and check the rice is cooked. Taste for seasoning (personally, the bacon and stock make it salty enough for me, but I do throw some pepper in usually) and then mix through the peas and scallions.

Just give me a fork, I'll take the whole dish

Return to the oven and let cook for a few more minutes.

Remove again, stir, and serve! YUM.