Smoky Corn Risotto

With a recent recipe, we turned to another source for our inspiration: The Fresh Market (and its 25th Anniversary The Fresh Market & Friends Cookbook). The nearly vegetarian Smoky Corn Risotto is what attracted us to its contents.

We cooked onions, shallots and garlic in butter until they were tender. (The recipe instructs you to first fry bacon; remove and drain off half the fat, then use that fat to cook the first three ingredients. This would certainly add some flavor, but we found using butter was flavorful enough.)

Then add the Arborio rice.


Then, in a slow and intensive process, add a cup of wine and stir until the entire cup is absorbed. Then repeat that process, adding a cup of chicken broth at a time, until four cups of broth are absorbed.

Then remove from the heat and stir in butter, parsley, Parmesan and corn. Use bacon as a garnish.


The thickness was perfect and the crisp bacon added a nice contrasting crunch to the risotto.


Although we garnished with bacon, you could easily exclude it and serve the dish as vegetarian. The crunch would be missed, but the flavors would still be strong enough to stand on their own.


The wine we used to thicken the risotto is Yellow Tail's Pinot Grigio. Since we are not heavy white wine drinkers, much preferring anything Melbac, I accompanied my risotto with a glass of wine, which was light and pleasant.