Leek Risotto With Sugar Snap Peas and Pancetta Recipe (2024)

The recipe is really good, but as with every risotto recipe on NY Times Cooking it suggests arborio rice, which I think doesn't go well for risotto, especially not for creamy risotto. The best option for risotto is Carnaroli or Vialone Nano.

PS All this splitting hairs about which rice to use for risotto is too twee for me. For God's sake it's all short grain rice!

True, true, but it is fun to be a little twee right now.

This dish was easy, tasty, and filling! I had about a cup and half of diced butternut squash that I needed to use up, so I threw that in as well. It hid nicely once it cooked down. This risotto was very good, and will join my regular rotation of meals. As a note, I did end up using 5 oz of pancetta since that's what I had on hand, but that just makes it that much better! (I do recommend pancetta over bacon.)

Came out great. Blanch the peas in boiling water for 1 minute, then cut in slices (not lengthwise). Keeps them green and crunchy but not as raw. Make extra bacon!

Add lemon! Took it from good to great

Half way into prep I realized I didn't have any rice for risotto, so instead ended up making it with farro. The nuttiness of the farro held up really nicely against all the leeks. After this happy accident, I might actually prefer it this way.

This seems a little elitist to me... We ARE in the middle of a pandemic. Use what you have or what you can get. Heck, I used sushi rice because the rice and bean aisle at my grocery store still looked like it did at the beginning of the shut down. That is to say, empty. Still turned out great.

Loved this dish, it deserves 5 stars for the lovely mix of textures. Absolutely perfect in spring! One tip: throw the peas into the risotto for a minute BEFORE you turn the flame off--that flash of heat keeps it from feeling uncooked, and you still have the chives for that just snipped feeling.

I made it with arborio rice as per the instructions but doubled the pancetta. It was excellent!

You probably won't use all the stock to get the risotto creamy to taste. However, save the liquid for reheating the risotto, adding a little at a time to taste, in a medium heated saucepan, stirring constantly, as before, until liquid is absorbed and it will be almost as good as the original batch. Adding extra cheese at the end wouldn't hurt either.

Keeper for sure - the flavour was better using the pancetta than the 2nd try when we used just olive oil and fresh thyme> But, it was too salty. Next time I'd cook the pancetta, use the oil to cook the leeks, but use the pancetta sparsely when serving. Really good!Interested to ready about Carnaroli and Vialone Nano rices - we will try these as well.

Added extra half cup of wine, copied someone else's idea of blanching the snap peas and slicing cross-wise, and it was great. Had to add extra garlic and salt for flavor, but you should be tasting as you go anyway.

The argument over rice types is hardly “twee.” It was the subject of a university study here in Italy, which found carnaroli superior in making a creamy risotto. The reason is that the microscopic starch grains in carnaroli are larger than those in arborio, hence more surface area to absorb liquid. At the very least the NYT should say “preferably carnaroli” in its risotto recipes.

Can this be made vegetarian (no bacon/pancetta)?

made it vegetarian byskipping the pancetta and using butter to provide fat. alsi added mushrooms.

This recipe was amazing! I used all parts of the leek because I don’t believe in just using the white parts. I also doubled the garlic because that’s always what one should do, and substituted organic bacon with the pancetta. The flavor was so strong you could taste the bacon even without adding it at the end. I think I added more cheese than requested. Lower to medium low as soon as you start adding the broth. To get the broth to simmer put it on medium high and then lower to medium. So good!

It is a dish that works as written. For me, it was a lot of prep and much time spent stirring in stock. Mine tasted great, and the family gobbled it down. I will use some of the techniques again to make risotto with a variety of flavor combinations.

Almost perfect as written. I blanched the snap peas, as others mentioned, which makes perfect sense. Delish!

Hmm. I’m not sure about the addition of snap peas. I think the rest of the flavors worked

This was delicious, totally agree with blanching snap peas for 1 minute, makes the texture not as raw! I also added a bit of lemon and it was great!

This will be a regular meal at our table for the foreseeable future. My wife and two daughters were very quiet while eating, which is always a great sign. I agree with cooking the snap peas a minute or two—an essential improvement. I fried up prosciutto instead of pancetta and wouldn’t do it any other way.

This was one of the best risottos that I’ve made! I par boiled the snap peas and it was perfect!

Not a bad recipe. Needed a little something, so I threw in some sofrito. Was well enjoyed by all.

More garlic. More bacon. Cut up snap peas

I did this in a pressure cooker (a fast/slow pro). I sauted the leeks and an onion (I wasn’t using pancetta so needed some extra flavour), then threw in arborio and stock with a splash of apple cider vinegar at a ratio of 1:3, gave it a minute or so of stirring then put on low (40kPa) for 7mins with auto quick steam release. Stirred in the cheese and a squeeze of lemon and it was great! Peas went in just after rice which i wouldn’t do again but didn’t go as bad as I thought it would

Used better than bouillon and added lemon zest and juice. Look forward to trying with other veg (mushrooms, asparagus, garden peas). Used extra garlic, and heavy on the pepper!

Used onion and mushrooms instead of leeks ; blanched peas 1 minute and cut in half.