Blue Cheese, Bacon and Pecan Risotto

Our big party is in three months.  My freezers are full.  I need to use up freezer food so I have room for party food.  On the way down to the Colts game, trying to keep from being too nervous since we were up against the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs (and, I knew my radio colleague, Dean Barber, would kid the heck out of me if we lost since he lives in KC!) I focused on what I could use up from the freezer for dinner.  Chicken stock.  Risotto.  So, what's a new and different way to make it?  Is there anything in the fridge that needs to be used up?  Bacon.  Well, as it turns out, Connie loved the blue cheese, bacon and pecan dip I made a couple of weeks ago.  What if I turned that into risotto?


Problem solved.  On to reading cooking magazines.  So, I turn the page in whatever one I was working on and the next recipe is a risotto with bacon and taleggio cheese.  This happens all the time.  I make something up then see a recipe. But, I was going to stick with the blue cheese and pecans.


We won the game - by the skin of our teeth - but we won.  Whew!  The usual crew was not going to meet at the Lockerbie Pub for burgers because we'd all gotten together the evening before.  So, it was home to make risotto.  Now, for those of you who follow recipes and have to have measurements, I apologize.  Some of this is a guess because I was just tossing stuff in.


What did we think?  Connie liked it but it'd not be on his list of his favorite risottos.  I liked it a bit more than he did but it'd also not be on my list of my favorite risottos.  I'll keep the blue cheese, pecan and bacon combo in a party dip.  I guess I'd say we prefer risottos with vegetables - well, except for the short rib risotto that I have to blog about someday!

Blue Cheese, Pecan and Bacon Risotto

serves 4

Ingredients:
2 bunches green onions, chopped
2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 c Arborio rice
1/4 c white wine
4 c chicken stock
6 slices bacon, browned and crumbled
1/4 c crumbled blue cheese
1/3 c pecans, toasted
4 poached eggs

Directions:


Saute the green onions in the olive oil. 

Add the butter and the rice and saute until the rice is lightly browned. 

Pour in the white wine and stir until it's absorbed.  Add the chicken stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until it's absorbed. 

When the rice is done - not crunchy, not mushy but a little bit chewy - and the broth is all absorbed, stir in the blue cheese. 

Once it's melted in, add the bacon and pecans. 

I topped each serving with a poached egg just because it sounded good...