Pancetta Risotto.  Super easy.  Super cheap.  Super comforting.  We can’t get enough risotto in our house and love to mix it up with different flavors and toppings.  This particular combination provides a crispy, creamy and decadent mix all in one.

We began with some pancetta which we sliced and then diced.

When we buy pancetta we like to purchase it in big chunks and then dice it up and vacuum pack it in our own bags.  This process takes a little bit of time and effort but in the end it is a great alternative to buying the pre-cut pancetta in the store.  It is much more economical and the vacuum packs can then be  popped in the freezer and taken out when you need them.

 Once we had vacuum packed the excess pancetta we cooked our diced pancetta over a slow heat until crispy.  It was then set aside and the majority of the fat was removed from the pan.

For this risotto we wanted to add frozen peas and some good parmesan.

We know some people say cooking risotto is too much trouble and you have to baby it to get it right…but it doesn’t seem like too much to ask when the end result is so yummy.

We began by toasting our arborio rice in the same frying pan we cooked the pancetta in.  This ultimately added some great flavors to the dish.  We added our liquid (white wine and water) in small batches until the rice had absorbed it all.

At the very end we added two knobs of butter and stirred it in.

Adding the toppings is the easy part! Peas and cheese in.

We put our crispy pancetta on top with a few more slices of cheese.  It was a luscious meal and so simple to make….but we’ll be honest…as easy as it is everything is better when someone else makes it for you so in our house we like to take turns and make this for each other.