Bacon and Mizuna Risotto

Inspired by some seriously delicious fare at Toulouse Petit, I made this risotto with some fresh mizuna lettuce from our farm share and bacon from the local farmer's market.  It's true what they say, bacon does make everything better!  Don't be intimidated on this one, if you don't have mizuna you can always use arugula or spinach.

Ingredients


5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup arborio rice (special risotto rice)
1/2 cup white wine
5 slices of bacon
1 lb mizuna or other green

1. Start by heating both in a pot on the stove (heat over medium)
2. Heat another deep pot over medium high heat, when hot add two swirls of olive oil to the pan
3. When the oil is hot add the chopped onion and cook 2-3 minutes until soft
4. Add rice to the oil and stir to coat (about 2 minutes)
5. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and stir to evenly coat
6. Here comes the tricky part, add a ladle of the broth to the rice mixture and stir every few minutes while broth is absorbed
7. When broth is absorbed add some more and repeat step 6 until all broth is gone.
8. While risotto is cooking, heat a large saute pan to medium high heat
9. Add bacon slices to the hot pan and cook to your preference (well done works best here)
10. When bacon is done, remove from the pan and lay on a cutting board with paper towels below to soak up the grease
11. Carefully drain most of the grease into a grease safe container and return the pan to the stove
12. Add the greens to the bacon greased pan and cook down for about 3-4 minutes and remove from heat
13. At this point you should be about 20 minutes into cooking your risotto and have very little broth left.  Sample the risotto to make sure it is chewy but not uncooked.  If it is ready, remove from heat.
14. Quickly chop bacon into bite size pieces
15. To plate this dinner, add a scoop of risotto onto the plate, followed by a nice portion of greens (about one "tong"ful) and then finally the bacon.
16. Serve with a salad and enjoy!