"Come on baby show your love…"

Here is my promise to you…I will NEVER—not now, not ever—tell you what romantic options there are in the way of wines for Valentine’s Day. All those ridiculous wines called Seduction, Naked, Cleavage Creek, Sexy, etc. won’t ever be mentioned here in reference to Vday, regardless of whether or not they’re any good. I never dug the pseudo holiday anyway—the service in restaurants sucks, the menus are limited, the roses die, and the chocolate (unless it comes from someone who knows the difference between Vosges and Whitman’s Sampler) will better serve as compost. Nonetheless, showing our love is important, and given that Vday falls on a Saturday this year, there’s really no excuse for NOT doing something. Sure if you wanna be true to the anti-institution, counterculture anarchist in you then you should do it on a random Tuesday as opposed to on the holiday itself, but that’s for you to wrestle with. What I have here is a sure fire way to do as part-time-EMT David Lee Roth said: Show Your Love. How, you ask? Risotto.

Unless you’ve already popped your cherry when it comes to making risotto, many people think it’s incredibly hard to prepare, which is nonsense. As long as you have the time to give it your attention you’ll do fine. The way I see it, risotto is a labor of love, but one that rewards you tenfold. Certain things (like dusting and vacuuming) can, without question, be rushed. Risotto can’t. And this concoction I put together will send your lover into a spin not once but twice—didn’t think you could do that any more at your age, did you?

I humbly submit for your drooling pleasure: Bacon and Cheddar Risotto. From the aftermath will then come its second incarnation: Bacon and Cheddar Arancini (Rice Balls). When I first started discussing the recipe idea, it occurred to me that even though wine is typically used in making a risotto, perhaps I should use beer instead as that tends to lend itself nicely to ANYTHING “bacon and cheddar”. I was right. So here’s how to twice woo the love of your life in the kitchen. If they don’t like these two dishes, check for a pulse (actual recipe is listed in the Recipes section).

After sautéing some bacon pieces in the pan to a crunchy crisp, I pulled them out to drain and added the chopped onion to the pan. Once the onion became translucent and lightly golden, I added the Arborio rice and let them both continue to cook, toasting the rice just a bit. Then, instead of white wine, I added half a beer and let it bubble away and reduce before beginning to add the stock little by little. This is the crucial part, folks. Add a ladle’s worth of stock to the rice, stir it gently and wait for the liquid to be absorbed by the rice. When the pools of liquid are gone, add another ladle and repeat. Continue doing this as the rice grains begin to swell and give off their glorious starchiness. The only way to know when a risotto is done is by tasting it. I always make too much stock and have leftover because you’re never quite sure how much it’ll take. When the rice’s crunch is gone but it still has a little tooth left in it, it’s ready. I then added a couple of pats of butter, the grated cheddar cheese and the bacon. DON’T SEASON UNTIL EVERYTHING IS IN!!!

Part Two: The recipe is built for 2 people so that there are enough leftovers to make rice balls the next day. The pleasure of well-made arancini is the same pleasure of well-made croquettes…crunchy exterior, soft gooey interior. To make life easy on yourself, keep the rice cold until you’re ready to make these because room-temperature rice will be a mess to work with. Wisk an egg in a bowl and add tiny bit of water. In another bowl get some bread crumbs set up. Make small rice balls the size of meatballs and roll them first in the bread crumbs, then in the egg, and then back in the bread crumbs. If you want these to be over the top you can add a little piece of cheddar to the center of the ball before you bread it so that it’ll melt when you fry them. I was out of cheddar by this point as you can see in the picture. Fry them, drain them, sprinkle a little chopped parsley and just a bit of coarse salt….no better way to say “I love you” in my book.

Tagged as: bacon cheddar risotto, Valentine's Day