Back when I made the crock pot pulled pork in March, my friend looked at the leftover juices and drippings in the crock pot and suggested that some good stock could come out of that. Figuring that there was nothing to lose, I turned the crock pot down to low and returned to it the next morning to see what we had. It smelled amazing, and after a little bit of thought, I decided that it would, at some point, become the foundation for some risotto. I wasn’t really in a mood for risotto any time soon, so I put it in a container and froze it (which works well, by the way). A few weeks ago I decided the time had come to take my tasty pork stock and make some risotto with it.
Here’s what you’ll need (the measurements are less than precise):
1 lb bacon (I think I only went with about 3/4 of a pound, and I didn’t find the risotto lacking)
6 cups pork stock (or whatever you have leftover from your pulled pork; don’t worry about watering it down either)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons butter
Dash olive oil
2 cups Arborio rice
1 package Shittake mushrooms
1/4-1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Parsley, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Begin by cooking your bacon. I went with the microwave method because I didn’t want to get another pan (or especially the griddle) dirty. This also tends to be a little faster. Just cook it a minute a slice in the microwave between a few layers of paper towels, then set it on a plate to cool and later break into smaller pieces.
While your bacon is cooking, heat your pork stock in a separate saucepan until it’s good and hot (it doesn’t need to come to a boil or anything, but it does help to get it warm).
In your large saucepan (or dutch oven), melt the butter and toss in the onions, and after a few minutes, the garlic. Let the onions turn translucent, and then throw in a splash of olive oil with the garlic. Continue to stir for a few minutes, and then add the rice. Be ready to stand and stir for a while. Have some wine within reach.
When cooking Arborio rice, you only ever want enough liquid in the pan to barely cover the rice. Be sure to stir continuously to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Periodically add broth to the rice to keep it going, and don’t stop stirring. I’ve found this step takes about a half an hour, but your mileage may vary depending on how high you have the heat (I’d recommend medium-high) and how whimsical the rice is feeling that day.
Once the rice tastes firm but not crunchy, remove it from the heat. Stir in the grated Parmesan cheese, the crumbled bacon, and the mushrooms. Garnish with fresh parsley from the deck if you have any, and a little more cheese, because why not.
Serves approximately four.
Note: I was a little surprised with how this turned out; I was afraid that the bacon/pork stock combo was going to make this insufferably salty, but it really wasn’t. It actually tasted very sweet with just a bit of kick to it. I’m attributing that to the fact that I used some special barbecue sauce from a local butcher shop (Payne’s Hot and Spicy Pig Sweat) and a lot of those flavors persisted in the stock and carried on through to the risotto. I actually really enjoyed the way it turned out, and I’d recommend that you play with a few different spices and seasonings if you want to skew your risotto one way or the other. Maybe even add a little brown sugar.
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