I’m inclined to scan right past risotto on a menu. It’s nothing against the dish, really. I appreciate the patience that’s gone into stirring those grains to coax out maximum creaminess. But given the choice, I’m always going to order the pasta (it’s beyond my control; maybe it’s in my southern Italian DNA). That is, until I recently dined with a gluten-intolerant friend at Longplay Bistro. She suggested we order the simply named “green risotto” and – out of respect for her physical wellbeing – I complied.
I’ve had a memorable dining experience here before (the signature vodka pasta! That early-days treacle tart! Even the fresh and crunchy broccoli and barley salad!) so I knew I’d be in for a decent rendition of the humble northern Italian dish. What I didn’t expect was to still be thinking about it weeks later. The plate is a show stopper before you even take a bite: the most vibrant and alluring puddle of grains I’ve ever seen, topped off with a single hunk of crumbed and fried taleggio cheese (unless you’re gluten-averse; ours arrived without crumbs).
“The first time the dish was plated I burst out laughing as I’d cut the taleggio in a long slab and it looked like a fish finger sitting on a bed of mushy peas, which made me fall in love with it even more,” head chef Calum Horn tells Broadsheet.
The visuals really are giving fried fish and mushy peas. Or a golden little island in a grainy green sea. But it’s a perfectly-put-together ode to springtime that’s faithfully creamy yet remarkably bright and fresh.
“The dish came about as a direct response to the change in weather in Adelaide and the feeling that spring had finally sprung after a winter that felt like it had been going on forever,” says Horn. “I really just wanted to see something green and light on the menu with something decadent, crunchy and sharp, which resulted in the crumbed taleggio.”
The dish’s vivid green hue comes from a puree of oil, green leek tops, blanched broccoli and broccoli leaf, which is folded through the rice just before serving. One of Horn’s other tricks is the use of short-grain koshihikari rice. “When you beat the rice in the last moments of making a risotto it releases lots of starch, which gives it a wonderful creamy consistency,” he says.
Slicing into the slab of taleggio reveals a pull of stretchy, gooey cheese that melts harmoniously into the rice. “I feel like washed rind cheeses and brassicas complement each other well and it’s always nice to have a bit of textural difference to break up the monotony of the rice.”
Thankfully, this stunning, silky dish also broke up the monotony of all my risotto experiences that have come before it.
