Bacon and Wild Mushroom Risotto with Baby Spinach

The May 2010 issue of Cooking Light featured a series of risotto recipes and this is the one that I was most excited to try. It was my first time trying risotto and I'm ready to try another now...especially since I have the rice I need for it! This one was SO good! The crunchy bacon was the highlight and I loved the rich flavor the different mushrooms added to it. Tasty!!!

Ingredients:
4 cups Homemade Chicken Stock (you can view their recipe here; I just used store bought chicken broth)
6 bacon slices, chopped
1 cup chopped shallots (I used green onions)
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
4 ounces oyster mushrooms, sliced
1 cup uncooked Carnaroli or Arborio rice (they said Carnaroli was best, but I could only find Arborio at my store)
1/3 cup Madeira wine or dry sherry (I used sherry cooking wine)
4 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Asiago cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt (leave this out if you use store bought chicken broth, or use low sodium chicken broth...ours was a little on the salty side)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
-Bring Homemade Chicken Stock to a simmer in a small saucepan (do not boil); keep warm over low heat.
-Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add bacon to pan; cook 8 minutes or until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon.
-Add shallots, oil, thyme, and garlic to drippings in pan; cook 6 minutes or until shallots are tender, stirring occasionally.
-Stir in mushrooms; cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
-Add rice, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
-Stir in Madeira; cook 1 minute or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.
-Stir in 1 cup stock; cook 4 minutes or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.
-Add remaining stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of stock is absorbed before adding the next (about 25 minutes total).
-Stir in spinach; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in cheese, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle with bacon.