Smoked bacon & mushroom risotto cooked on the Spirit II E-310 gas BBQ

Try this delicious easy one-pot supper risotto on the grill

Why not try making a risotto on the BBQ, it’s much easier than you think and is a really tasty one-pot supper dish. Obviously if you want to make this a vegetarian dish cut out the bacon and use mushroom stock instead of the chicken; for mushroom stock you can just rehydrate dried mixed mushrooms and use the liquour.

 

 

Ingredients:

• 1kg (2lb 3oz) mixed mushrooms; roughly chopped
• 6 rashers smoked, streaky bacon; cut into lardons (omit the bacon for the vegetarian version)
• ½ sweet white onion; finely chopped
• 300g (10.5oz) Arborio rice
• 3 cloves smoked garlic; grated
• 1ltr (35fl oz) chicken stock (use mushroom stock for the vegetarian version)
• 150ml (5fl oz) white wine
• 60g (2oz) Parmesan cheese
• 60g (2oz) butter
• 2tbsp fresh thyme; finely chopped
• rapeseed oil
• sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• pack Japanese mushrooms, for garnish

Equipment:

• GBS (Gourmet Barbecue System) wok or Dutch oven

Pre-heat the grill to a low heat; we are using the Weber Spirit II E-310 gas BBQ with all the burners firing on minimum, as we don’t want the rice to burn on a high heat.

Just drizzle a little oil round the rim, this will flow down the wok or Dutch oven and give a better coverage than just pouring it into the bottom. Add the bacon lardons and cook gently until the fat renders out of them.

Add the mushrooms and increase the heat a little, the burners were turned up to half power. Put down the lid and cook until the mushrooms are reduced down.

Reduce the heat a little, make a little well in the centre and sweat off the onions, thyme and garlic for a minute then add the rice and cook for a couple of minutes. Before adding the liquid the outside of the rice grains need to crack in order for them to absorb the liquid. Remember to keep stirring to stop anything sticking to the Dutch oven.

Add the wine, increase the heat a little and cook until it has evaporated.

Add the stock a little at a time until the rice won’t absorb any more, if it’s simmering too briskly just reduce the heat a little. Go carefully with the second half of the stock, keep testing the rice and it is cooked when soft all the way through.

Remove the risotto from the grill and add the butter and ¾ of the parmesan, leave the lid on the Dutch oven until the butter has melted into the risotto. Stir the risotto then have a taste and if necessary add some sea salt and ground black pepper.

Garnish with the Japanese mushrooms and a little more grated Parmesan.