Absolutely delicious! And what a great way to make risotto for a whole lot of people. I had two big oven dishes going, one with and one without meat. The one thing I would say is that you have to put the oven dish at the bottom of the oven so it does catch the heat underneath to make the stock bubble and the rice cook through. My lot loved it! One colleague called it beyond “lekker”…-enjoy-

INGREDIENTS (Serves 2)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
150g button mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 rashers bacon, rind removed, roughly chopped
¾ cup (150g) arborio rice
2 ¼ cups (560ml) chicken stock
30g baby spinach leaves
½ cup (40g) finely grated parmesan
20g butter
sea salt and cracked black pepper

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180°C (355°F). Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, mushrooms and bacon and cook for 5 minutes or until browned.
Place in a 5 cup-capacity (1.25L) ovenproof dish with the rice and stock and stir to combine. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes or until most of the stock is absorbed and rice is al dente.
Stir through the spinach, parmesan, butter, salt and pepper.