Oven Baked Risotto

As you will all note from an earlier post, I recently became the proud owner of a lovely shiny black Le Creuset casserole and was dying to christen it!!

As part of my new years resolutions, I have vowed to cook at least one recipe a week from the mountain of books and magazines that own the bookshelf in the spare room, and so decided the first recipe would combine both that and the Le Creuset!

I love risotto but making it can be a chore, especially on a week night when there is a million other things occupy your time, I had seen in a copy of a Good Food mini-mag a recipe for oven baked risotto and thought it would make perfect first recipe, its also available here online: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2818/ovenbaked-risotto- (link removed)

Ingredients

250g pack smoked bacon , chopped into small pieces
1 onion , chopped
25g butter
300g risotto rice (I used spanish paella rice)
half a glass of white wine (optional) - (I didn't want to open a bottle so used a splash of Vermouth)
150g pack cherry tomatoes , halved (approx 7)700ml hot chicken stock (from a cube is fine) (I used a chicken boulion cube)50g parmesan , grated

1) Heat the oven, 180 fan / 200 gas. Gently heat an oven-proof deepish pan I.e. a Le Creuset casserole, add the bacon and fry until crispy. Note: Do not put lid back on as doesn't aid the browning part!

2) Add the onion and butter, mix well and cook until golden, a couple of mins, stir in rice and vermouth /wine (if using), pour over stock, mix well and transfer to oven, with lid tightly on. It took about 19 minutes in my fan but note on Good Food comments some people said took longer.

3) Grate over parmesan and serve. It made 2 large bowls for dinner and two smaller tubs for our lunches today