Bacon wrapped scallops and mushroom risotto

I haven't made a nice dinner in a while, so the other night I decided to make my version of the best plate of food Kimmy and I ever ate at Patrenella's a while back. Their scallops weren't wrapped in bacon, and their risotto didn't have mushrooms, but my versions were and did. It didn't quite live up to that one, but I wasn't trying to copy it, and it ended up being a pretty good dinner.

The key to the bacon wrapped scallops was precooking the bacon a little bit, that way you don't end up with chewy fatty bacon or overcooked scallops. Precooked the bacon in a pan for a couple minutes, let it cool some while I started the risotto, and then wrapped the scallops with the bacon, secured with a toothpick, and threw them in a hot pan for a couple minutes on each side. Had to keep them warm in the oven along with my asparagus for a little bit while my risotto finished, but they didn't get overcooked and were still good. The bacon was a little too much actually (blasphemy, I know) but that's because I used some peppered bacon. I think I've decided scallops are good enough on their own and the bacon can be saved for something else that needs it more.

The risotto was an experiment, it was my first time ever attempting it. I watched a few videos and looked at a few recipes online and settled on a mixture of methods from those. Earlier in the afternoon, I had tossed my dried porcini mushrooms in some hot water to dehydrate, and sauteed some shiitake mushrooms to add to the risotto later. Started by warming chicken stock on one burner and heated up some butter and olive oil on another. Tossed in onion and garlic and sweated them for a bit, then added the arborio rice to get some flavor and the beginnings of translucence on it. The first round of liquid was a cup of white wine and a little bit of the mushroom water, which had a lot of flavor. Stirred and stirred until that was soaked up, then added chicken stock to cover, let it get absorbed in and stirred to get those starches off to create the risotto's creaminess, then repeated a couple thousand times. Looking back, I think I had the temperature too hot, because I think the liquid was evaporating too fast instead of getting absorbed by the rice, so I spent way longer than I thought on the risotto. Somewhere along the way, I tossed in the chopped up mushrooms, and then at the end finished it with a bunch of grated parmesan.

It was a good experiment, and I think it turned out pretty nice, but it was a very rich meal and I made way too much risotto. The next risotto I make will be better, I'll probably do something different than mushrooms and watch the temp a little better next time, but I'm glad I've got that in my toolbox now.