Baked risotto

I have cooked risotto a few times before, but this is my first try at a baked version. I can see the appeal of doing a baked risotto - you leave it cooking in the oven rather than going through the tedious process of standing at the stove for 20-30minutes stirring and adding stock and stirring and adding stock etc etc. Usually I am all for easier recipes but in this case, with risotto, I think the traditional route is better. It's quite important to check the cooking process of risotto because it is so easy for the arborio rice to overcook and turn into a mushy mess with a consistency not unlike porridge. The original baked risotto recipe said to put the risotto in the oven for 30 minutes. When I took it out, the rice was still not cooked. So I put it back in the oven for a further 10 minutes, which was fine. However I used a pretty heavy ceramic baking dish which holds the heat very well and it continued cooking the leftover risotto while we were enjoying dinner. Let's just say that whilst the leftover was edible, it wasn't very pretty looking..

This is my first time using thyme and I can't say I like the herb very much. It tastes very medicine-y. Rob doesn't think it tastes that way and said he liked it in the risotto. Thyme has a familiar somewhat nostalgic taste so maybe I am associating it with an unpleasant childhood memory? I don't know.

Anyway, like the risotto recipe I posted before, you can use pretty well any ingredients you want to. The original baked risotto recipe didn't have mushrooms, but I thought mushies go so well in risotto so I added it. The important thing with risotto is to have enough stock for the rice to cook.

Ingredients
2-3 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek, thinly sliced on the slant
600g chicken fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups arborio rice (uncooked)
4-5 cups chicken stock
mushrooms (as many or little as you want)
1 tabspn dried thyme
Parmesan

Method
Preheat oven to 150C and place a 5l oven proof dish with a lid in the oven to warm.
Heat the oil in saucepan over medium heat, add the leek and cook until soft.
Add the chicken and cook, stirring, until lightly golden.
Add the rice and stir so it is well coated with oil and cook for a further minute until rice is translucent.
Add the stock and bring to the boil.
Pour the mixture into the warm ovenproof dish and cover.
Place in oven and cook about 30 to 40 minutes, stirring halfway through.
Remove from the oven and stir through the thyme leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste.
If desired, sprinkle with extra thyme leaves and shaved parmesan & serve