Leek, Bacon and Winter Greens Risotto
Photography Josh Griggs.
Leeks, bacon and greens are a wonderful combination – add sage, garlic and parmesan and you’ve created a winner.
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
knob of butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 leek, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons chopped sage
1½ cups arborio rice
½ cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock, hot
sea salt and ground pepper
Winter greens
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
pinch chilli flakes
100 grams streaky bacon, thinly sliced
250 grams broccolini
100 grams baby spinach or silverbeet leaves
¼ cup mascarpone
parmesan cheese, for grating
METHOD
Winter greens: Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and add the garlic, chilli and bacon. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Cut the broccolini into bite-sized pieces and add to the pan. Cook until crisp tender, then add the spinach or silverbeet leaves and turn to wilt. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Risotto: Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan and add the onion, leek, garlic and sage. Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook until tender. Add the rice and stir for 1 minute.
Add the wine and simmer until it has been absorbed. Add the stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring until each has been absorbed before adding the next. After about 20 minutes the risotto should be quite loose in consistency, with the rice cooked but still with a tiny bite. Stir in the mascarpone and the bacon and greens.
To serve: Spoon the risotto into warm shallow dishes and top with a generous grating of parmesan. Serves 4.
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In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.