Apple and Bacon Risotto

   

   
Fall comes slowly, subtly at first, the humidity breaks during the day, nights are a little cooler.  The sun is a little lower in the sky, and the tips of the leaves start turning.  This isn't really fall, time of crisp air and warm sweaters.  It's more autumn, that first hint of fall.  This is the time of apples.  Not here, but up in the valleys, the Shenandoah Valley, beyond the Blue Ridge.  There they are harvesting apples in all their variety.  Is Fuji really different than Gala?  How much different is a Braeburn?  Tart apples may be best for pies, but what about in other dishes, like pork?
    
I don't know the answers to many of these questions, but this time of year I do like to cook recipes that include apples.  Pork with apples comes to mind as a natural pairing.  I keep a bottle of Cavaldos, an apple brandy from Normandy, for just such occasions.  This dish picks up the apple and pork theme, plus provides the warm comfort feeling of risotto.  The recipe originally appeared in our local Washington Post, and this being Virginia, it featured 'country' ham.  I'm not a big ham fan, but I do love bacon.  If you are worried about overpowering the dish with a smoked bacon flavor, but still want that browned, caramelized pork taste, substitute pancetta instead.  Either way allows you to saute the rice briefly in pork fat.  How much better can it get?  Additionally, instead of wine as the initial stock for the risotto, apple cider is used.  Top it off at the end as well for an additional apple taste and feel fall at your doorstep.  Serves 4.
     
Ingredients: 
4 slices of bacon, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 cup arborio rice
1 cup apple cider
4 cups chicken stock
1 apple with 3/4 diced, and 1/4 sliced into thin wedges
1/4 cup Asiago cheese, grated
    
Directions:
In a medium pan over high heat, bring the stock to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a simmer.  In another medium pan over medium heat, add the bacon and cook until it starts to turn brown.  Add the onions and cook until softened.  If there is more than a couple of tbsp of fat in the pan, pour off the extra fat.  Stir in the risotto rice and coat with the bacon fat.  Allow to cook a few minutes and then stir in 1/2 cup of cider.  Bring to a boil and then simmer down until almost gone.  Ladle in 1/2 cup to 1 cup of stock, ensuring that it's at a simmer but not boiling too strongly.  Stir the risotto and slowly cook down the stock.  When almost all of the stock is cooked off, ladle in more of the stock and continue simmering.  Repeat this process for about 20 minutes, until the rice is cooked al dente.  Meanwhile, in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat, add the butter and when melted, add the apple slices and brown slightly.  Remove the slices and add the diced apple.  Cook a few minutes to soften slightly, but not so long that the apple pieces become too soft.  When the rice is almost cooked, taste the rice and if more apple taste is desired, stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of apple cider.  Stir in the cheese and diced apple.  Plate each portion and top with an apple slice.  Serve.