Springtime Torschlusspanik
And a golden rule for risotto
In this post you’ll find:
Your go-to method for risotto
And arancini (if there’s any risotto remaining)
There’s a German word, Torschlusspanik, that literally translated means ‘gate closing panic’ – like the urgency of needing to finish a hike through the wildflowers before the national park gate closes at 5pm – and, more figuratively, the angst around realising a time frame for seizing opportunities is drawing to a close. It’s a favourite word, and winter is a favourite season, so the first signs of spring bring on a kind of cooking Torschlusspanik. Quickly followed by a concerted effort to cram in slow braises and soups, while the weather allows.
The spring flowers are well and truly out along the Cape West Coast, and we walked a trail right through them with wild waves on one side and wildlife on the other – including a dazzle of Cape mountain zebra, which are present in the photograph above. (They’re tiny, but see if you can spot them.) Access is limited to 20 people per day and with starting times naturally staggered, it felt like we were the only people on the path. Except for one other couple walking at roughly the same pace, who turned out to be from Genoa, Italy.
Given the long lens on their camera and feasting sunbirds in close proximity, we took them for birders, but soon realised it was for the flora. Periodically we overtook them, fell behind, and overtook again, observing on passing how they approached each bloom with slow, quiet appreciation. Do you do the same in Italy at the start of spring, I asked at one of our overlapping stops. Yes, but it’s not these flowers, was the reply, in an almost reverential tone. We didn’t see them again but their regard for the landscape left a lasting impression.
A few days before, a loyal subscriber and friend made contact with some urgency too, asking where to find our risotto method on our website. We hadn’t yet published it but her request was a good reminder to make use of the search function on Supertasters and treat it as a library. So, here’s Brandon’s risotto, before it gets too sunny and we’re swimming in the sea, not just looking at it. This is for you Jax and in honour of the Italians we met among the daisies but whose names we will never know.