Bacon and Leek Risotto with White-Wine Poached Duck Eggs

I made this dish as a part of a meal for an online cooking competition (fingers crossed that I place!), so there are more pictures than usual of the actual process... something I'm sure you won't mind when you lay eyes on this dish :)


In my opinion, there is nothing more appetizing than an oozing egg yolk. How can you make this better? Use a bigger egg! Bigger egg= bigger yolk. In this case, I used duck eggs on top of a sumptuous risotto.
I have to be honest, I LOVE this dish... far more than most other dishes. What can I say? I'm a sucker for comfort food, and this dish takes all of my favorite comfort foods and combines them: runny yolks, risotto, and bacon. What's not to love?
There are so many glorious textures and flavors that play off of one another here: rich, velvety egg yolk, crisp, peppery bacon, soft, sweet leeks, chewy, creamy rice... basically one of the best things you will ever lock your jaws around.


(By the way, I have a redesign for my blog being worked on and I CANNOT wait for it to be done because I am so sick of Blogger! It never works right for me. For instance, I have ZERO clue why my font is much smaller than normal here.)

Bacon and Leek Risotto with White-Wine Poached Duck Eggs

recipe adapted from here

ingredients:

• 2-3 duck eggs
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 garlic clove
• splash of vinegar (not pictured)
• 3-ish cups low-sodium chicken broth
• ½ tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 4 slices thick bacon, somewhat diced (I used a peppered bacon)
• 1 leek, thinly sliced (white and pale green only, please)
• ¾ cup Arborio rice
• ½ cup dry white wine + more for poaching eggs (I used a Pinot Grigio)
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• ½-1 tbsp. butter
• 1-ish tbsp. grated parmigiana reggiano + more for garnish

First we need to poach the eggs:

1. Get a sauce pan and fill it with a couple inches of white wine. Bring it to simmer with the bay leaf, garlic clove, salt, pepper, and a splash of vinegar.
2. Crack an egg into a ramekin and carefully drop it into the liquid. Repeat with remaining eggs. Cook the eggs for about a minutes, spooning hot wine over the tops. 
3. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and place in a cold water bath. Turn the wine off but leave it on the stove (we're going to reheat the eggs in the wine when the risotto is done).

Now for the risotto:

1. Make sure that your broth is simmering in a pot on the stove. Get a nice big dutch oven or saute pan and heat the olive oil over medium or medium-high heat. Add in the bacon and cook until crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and place onto some paper towels, but leave the drippings in the pan. 
2. Add the leeks to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes, until soft. Take two tablespoons full of the leeks and set aside in a small bowl to garnish the dish later.
3. Add the rice to the pan and toast the grains up for a couple of minutes. Add in the wine and stir until it is absorbed. 
4. Now start adding in the broth, one or two ladle-fulls at a time, and stirring after each addition until the broth is absorbed. Do this until the rice is done (the grains should have a slight bite to them), about 25 minutes. 
5. Stir in the bacon (be sure to leave some out if you want it for garnish), butter, and parmigiana reggiano. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 
6. Reheat the poached eggs in the wine for a minute or so until heated through.
7. Top each bowl of risotto with a poached egg (remember to season with salt and pepper), your reserved leeks and bacon, and extra parmigiana reggiano.