Bacon & Pea Risotto

Who doesn't love risotto?  Seriously, I need to know who.  Also, what ISN'T good in risotto?  We have been struggling with a toddler who will only eat summer sausage, bacon, grapes, craisens, salad and peanut butter.  We do put the peanut butter on crackers but the crackers somehow do not make it into her belly.  Oh and rotisserie chicken.  She sprinkles in a few other things but in limited amounts and by limited I mean she will eat one pea, one bite of apple...

So, out comes a cheesy goodness with peas and bacon.

Appetizing iphone picture above... my apologies.

What You Need:

4-6 Slices of Bacon
1 Small Onion diced
1 1/2 cups Arborio Rice
2 Garlic Cloves minced
45 oz Chicken Broth
1 cup peas
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
4 oz Cream Cheese

What You Do:

Cook the bacon until crisp in a large skillet over medium high heat.  You'll be using this skillet for the entire dish so make sure it is around 10 inches and deep enough.  Remove the bacon from the skillet.

Add onion to the bacon drippings and saute until tender.

Add the rice and garlic to the onions and cook about 3 minutes or until the rice is opaque.  Stir frequently.

Now, here comes the lengthy part.  Add 1 cup of the chicken broth to the skillet.  Stir until all of the broth is absorbed.  Then continue to add 1 cup of broth at a time until fully absorbed.  This takes a bit and I recommend have someone wrangle your toddler and hold your baby because it is time spent at the stove.  Also, a glass of wine is nice company.

With your last addition of broth you'll add in the 4 oz of cream cheese.  Stir until the cheese has completely melted and is blended.  Stir in the peas, bacon, parsley and parmesan cheese.

This will be the creamiest dish and easily serves 6 people.  It also heats up well so we will be enjoying it tonight as well.

Risotto is so pantry friendly that you probably could add anything to it and it would be delicious.  The key is take your time and make sure the liquid is fully absorbed.  That results in the creamy, rich texture we all associate with risotto.  The cheese doesn't hurt...

Enjoy!!