Bacon-wrapped Stuffed Chicken over Mushroom Risotto

These two dishes were a good combo because once the chicken was in the oven, I could focus on the risotto, which is kind of a time-intensive dish to make. 

Chicken Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1/2 c ricotta cheese
• 1 package frozen spinach, thawed
• 4 strips thick cut bacon
• 4 toothpicks or 2 wooden skewers cut in half

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place the spinach into a cloth, squeeze it until there's no liquid left in it. Butterfly cut the chicken breasts and lay them out opened on a cutting board. (To butterfly cut, stand the chicken breast up on its side and slice it almost all the way through. It will look like a heart-shape when you're done.)
3. Combine ricotta, spinach, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add a heaping spoonful of the mixture to each chicken breast.
4. Fold the chicken breast around the stuffing and wrap it in bacon. Tuck in any loose ends and skewer it all together, then place on a baking tray.
5. Once you've wrapped up all of your chicken breasts, pop them in the oven for half an hour and get started on the risotto.

Risotto Ingredients:

• 1 c Arborio Rice
• 4 c chicken stock
• 1/2 c finely chopped onion
• 1 c chopped mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 T olive oil
• 3 T freshly ground parmesan cheese

Directions:

Browning the risotto

1. Add 1 T olive oil to a pan on medium heat. Saute mushrooms for 3-5 minutes, and set aside. 
2. Saute onion and garlic in the remaining oil for 3-5 minutes, then add the dry risotto to the pan and brown for 2-3 minutes. 
3. Add 1 c of chicken stock and stir constantly until the broth is absorbed. Then add 1/2 to 1 cup of broth at a time and stir constantly until the broth is again used up. This will take about 20 minutes. It's important to keep stirring and not just let it boil to allow the starch in the rice to break down and spread out.
4. Once all broth is absorbed, add the mushrooms and parmesan cheese.
5.  Layer the chicken over the risotto and enjoy!