I owe this recipe to Paul Garland, which features in his book Fast and Light. It’s a serious flavour hit that takes only some advance preparation (including frying the bacon) and is quick to pull together on the fly.
I first tried it out when I went up to Herepai Hut in the eastern Tararuas, on an overnight getaway. This meant that frying the bacon at home so there was no problem simply letting it cool down and reheating it.
The following recipe serves two.
You will need…
- Equal parts orzo and arborio rice (about ¼ cup each each)
- 2-3 kransky sausages (chopped)
- Parmesan cheese
- Wasabi peas
- Kalamata olives
- Oil
- Stock powder cube
Optional:
- Bacon
- Onion
- Garlic
Method
- Boil some water and add the orzo and arborio. As it’s bubbling away, add the cube of stock powder and kalamata olives.
- Separately, sauté the bacon, onions, garlic in the oil. (My billy’s lid doubles as a small frying pan, which was handy for this sort of thing.)
- Chop up the kranskys. Add to the frying pan just as the onion and garlic goes clear.
- Add all fried ingredients into the risotto mixture and cook briefly.
- Turn off the gas and add your wasabi peas and parmesan cheese.
Ta-da! A delicious frontcountry risotto.
Frontcountry food assessment
Portable factor: The onion and garlic obviously adds a bit of extra weight, and the olives need to be carried in a small container. Otherwise, this is a very portable recipe.
Faff factor: The downside of this one is rice can tend to stick to the billy, so it can take a bit of scrubbing if you don’t want that risotto flavour lingering in your after-dinner brew!
Being a rice recipe, it also takes a bit longer to cook (10-15 minutes) than does a pasta recipe, for example, so make sure you’ve got the gas.
Gourmet factor: 5/5