Italian Risotto with Pancetta and Parmesan

Name: Risotto with Pancetta and Parmesan Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Arborio rice 1 cup (180 g); Stock or hot water 0.8-1 l; Pancetta, smoked ham or bacon 100 g; Onion pcs; Tomato (ripe) pcs; Parmesan (grated) 2 tbsp (14 g); Olive oil 3 tbsp; Salt 2-3 g; Ground black pepper to taste

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40 mins

Risotto with meat is a tasty, hearty dish for a good breakfast. Risotto is the best rice dish of Italian cuisine, which the world knows for pizza, pasta and risotto. These are the first dishes everyone names and remembers. I’ve already made risotto with seafood, and I recommend it.

The new fashionable trend in the Italian tourist industry is agritourism. Country holidays in Italy were the beginning of agritourism in the world. Picturesque scenery and exceptionally tasty classic Italian cuisine make a country holiday memorable and unique, and that is behind its worldwide success. Olive groves, vineyards, wineries, farms, cheese dairies: all worth seeing. Many farms and estates do this. Think of “The Taming of the Shrew”, it’s something like that. For us it’s a show, but people really live like this.

At the meal you will definitely be offered a choice of pasta or risotto. These two kinds of dishes are not eaten together. Risotto can have any additions: risotto with vegetables, risotto with meat, or even the unusual Venetian risotto with raisins, which, despite being dessert-like, is just right for the start of a meal.

It will differ by region. But usually, in the north of Italy, it will be rice with pancetta: risotto with meat or smoked bacon. Note that the recipe varies greatly from town to town, but the dish is always incredibly tasty. If you remember, pasta carbonara is also made with bacon, but with an egg sauce and Parmesan. Risotto tastes best made with homemade risotto stock. If you’re cooking it for the first time, read how to make risotto, which covers the rice and the technique. Next in the risotto series is risotto with porcini mushrooms.

More with bacon

Rice and Beans with Pork and Vegetables

1 h 30 min

Skillet Pilaf with Pork

Ingredients

2 servings

Arborio rice 1 cup (180 g)
Stock or hot water 0.8-1 l
Pancetta, smoked ham or bacon 100 g
Onion pcs
Tomato (ripe) pcs
Parmesan (grated) 2 tbsp (14 g)
Olive oil 3 tbsp
Salt 2-3 g
Ground black pepper to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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For risotto with meat, as for any other risotto, you don’t need to rinse the rice. Besides Arborio, you can use other Italian high-starch rice varieties: Carnaroli, Roma, Vialone Nano, Baldo.
Pancetta is the Italian kind of bacon. It is very similar to smoked pork belly, or even more to smoked pork cheeks. You don’t need to insist on original pancetta for this risotto: smoked fatty pork or bacon will do, or local smoked fatback with plenty of meat layers. Risotto is also very tasty with ordinary smoked pork loin, which is best not fried at all, or only minimally.
Since frying the ingredients for risotto with meat is very quick, it’s worth preparing everything in advance.
Peel the onion and chop it very finely. Scald the tomato with boiling water, remove the skin and seeds. Slice it, then chop finely with a knife. Cut the meat you’ve chosen into cubes or thin strips; it doesn’t matter which.
Pour 3 tbsp olive oil into a deep skillet and fry the chopped onion in it, stirring constantly. If you like, flavor the oil by frying a clove of garlic in it. The onion should become soft and slightly translucent without starting to burn, otherwise the risotto will taste off. Ideally the onion turns a pleasant golden shade.
Add the chopped meat (bacon, pancetta, smoked fatback), whatever you have prepared. Fry for 1 min, stirring constantly. Smoked meat shouldn’t be fried hard.
Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Now the important moment: add the Arborio rice. Stir and keep frying the risotto with bacon, stirring continuously, for 1-2 mins. The rice should be coated with a film of oil and start to turn slightly pearly and translucent at the edges.
Add half a cup of stock (100 ml) or hot water; this is the first liquid the rice absorbs. Reduce the heat and wait until the liquid is completely absorbed.
Then add boiling stock in small portions, usually chicken or meat stock. Add it with a small ladle until the rice has absorbed all the liquid, and only then add the next portion.
After 15 mins add the tomato flesh to the risotto with meat and keep cooking the rice, adding stock. The tomato flesh needs to blend into the risotto.
The rice is fully done when it is soft, slightly sticky, holds its shape and has a barely perceptible firmness inside, yet the risotto is still fairly fluid.
Sprinkle the risotto with meat with freshly grated Parmesan and stir. Take the risotto off the heat.
Divide the risotto with meat among plates, sprinkle with more Parmesan and serve immediately.