Matthew Woolen is a master pastry chef and has worked in a variety of Seattle restaurants, including gastropub Old Sage, Zhu Dang, and a gluten-free restaurant called Capitol Cider.

Matthew Woolen

This umami risotto is a scraping dish—your spoon scrapes against the bowl repeatedly, searching for one more bite. Together, everything in this risotto tastes smoky from the malted emmer to the cheesy, sweet flavor from the slices of apples and the fresh and green from the herbs. You need to make this. Our chef Matthew Woolen first made this when he worked at The Old Sage, a Seattle Scotch bar with food. Everything on the menu had to be fermented, sprouted, or smoked in some way. This risotto Matthew developed was on the opening-day menu. It never came off. Why does Matthew still love this flagship dish? “Every time we cooked it, we tasted it and it never grew old. We always wanted another bowl.” Part of the allure is the texture of the emmer, an ancient grain and one of the genetic precursors to modern wheat. Emmer—also known as farro medio—has a complexity of taste, with a hint of brown rice or oats. However, emmer is far lighter than most grains. When it is thoroughly cooked, it still has a bite or chew to it. Emmer is singular. This risotto also has ingredients packed with umami: the malted and smoked emmer, the cheese, and the cooked onions. Together their umami fills the mouth with savory flavor, encompassing the entire tongue. Umami—that still uncategorized fifth taste that chefs love so well—has the ability to round out all the other flavors in a dish. Umami makes a dish taste complete. Yes, in order to make this risotto you have to malt the emmer first. After you taste this dish, however, we believe you will start malting emmer on a regular basis, just to eat this risotto.

Umami Risotto