In Love With Bacon & Egg Risotto

165. The Paradise - "In Love With You" (Vulture Music, 2003)



A rich Bacon & Egg Risotto recipe for this richest of Alan Braxe's French House tracks. Adapted from here.

Take 3 slices of thick cut bacon and put them in a dry frying pan over medium-low heat. Cook them until a good amount of fat renders and they are crispy but not dry. Yr not eating cardboard, yr eating delicious bacon. Remove them and drain them on some paper towels. Put like one tbsp. of butter in the bacon fat and let it melt.

Meanwhile, put about 4 quarts of chicken broth (or whatever broth) (stock works too) (not just water though) in the a sauce pan and bring it up to a simmer. Pretty little bubbles.

While the broth heats up, turn the heat in the pan up a smidgen and throw in one medium-sized, chopped white onion. Let the onions cook until translucent and throw in 1 1/2 cups of Arborio Rice. Stir that up for a bit, add some salt and pepper, and let the rice fry with the onions for a minute. The rice will get translucent on the outside and remain white on the inside.

When this wonderful effect is achieved add a good few sips of white wine. Stir the rice and onions and let them absorb the wine. Then, the fun begins. Add the chicken broth like 3/4 of a cup at a time, and keep stirring or shaking the risotto (whatever dance you wanna do, baby) until the liquid is mostly absorbed. The rice won't get dry, as the starch is released and mixes with the broth, but you'll be able to tell when it's not absorbing more liquid.

Then, add more broth and keep stirring and adding. How long it takes to finish will vary, but expect a minimum of 20 minutes from the first time you add the broth. At that point, start tasting the rice. It should taste cooked but not completely mushy. During yr last stock addition, add another tbsp of butter, 1/3 cup of Parmesan, and the bacon you cooked earlier, which you should chop at some point.

When the risotto is done, you'll wanna top it with a poached egg yolk. No whites for this one, just the really delicious part. Put a few inches of water in a saucepan and bring it up to a calm, not at all violent simmer. Then gently lower an egg yolk into and let it cook. It should lay there for a minute and it'll be ready. Slide it out on a slotted spoon and put it on top of the risotto. Break it whenevs. The choice is yours. This should feed you and a dance partner. Though God knows if you make it yourself you might eat more than your share.