We recently demonstrated this dish at The Kitchens, at Robina town centre on the Gold Coast. There’s lots of delicious fresh produce in the centre, so we couldn’t help but share one of our favourite seafood dishes with all the locals.
One of the biggest lessons that we can learn from authentic Italian cooking is to cook risotto wet. It should be the texture of a thick soup, so that when you serve it on a plate (NOT a bowl) you can tap it on the bench top, and the whole mix should spread flat on the plate. Most people outside of Italy cook it too long and too dry – no one wants a thick squishy plate of gloop! You want the rice to be cooked al dente, so there’s just a little bit of bite to each granule of rice. The best rice to use is carnaroli – it holds its shape much better than Arborio.
Pangrattato simply means crispy fried breadcrumbs. Although its not a traditional topping for risotto, I just love the crunchy texture it adds to this dish.