There are hundreds of Chinese restaurants across Metro Vancouver, but you don’t often find non-Chinese chefs working in their kitchens. When the Georgia Straight sits down with Todd Bright, the executive chef of Wild Rice (117 West Pender Street; 122–810 Quayside Drive, New Westminster), at the 12-year-old restaurant just outside of Chinatown, he’s comfortable addressing the topic.

In 2010, Bright competed in the B.C. Chinese Chef of the Year competition. “I was the only white guy with these 12 other really traditional Chinese chefs—some of them had been cooking for 40 years—and that was intimidating,” Bright explains. “But when I competed, I had these guys watching me and learning new techniques off me, and I thought, ‘You know what? We’re all just cooks. At the end of the day, we want to create a nice meal and a nice experience for the customer. It doesn’t matter what colour your skin is or what flavour of food you’re doing. If you’re doing it well, that’s all that matters.’ That was kind of a turning point for me, when I was in that competition.”

Bright has been creating what he calls “modern Chinese dishes” at Wild Rice for five years, but his experience in Chinese cuisine extends back to his days as a young cook in Australia.

“I was studying informational technology at university and needed some beer money, so a friend of mine whose parents owned a Chinese restaurant told me to come wash dishes,” Bright recalls. “It was a traditional Cantonese restaurant and the cooking looked pretty fun, so I started out as the fried-rice boy—making huge batches of fried rice and washing dishes—and then I kind of moved into the deep-fried station. By the time I moved up to the woks, school became less and less interesting.”

Bright worked at that Chinese restaurant for four years before moving on to learning other cuisines, including modern Australian and Italian. After spending two years in the U.K., he obtained a visa to work in Vancouver and started at Wild Rice in 2008 as a line cook.

“I really didn’t think I’d be working in Asian cuisine again,” Bright says. “But the funny thing is that it has always been my favourite style of food to eat and to cook.”

On a rare night away from the restaurants, Bright enjoys cooking family-style meals at home for his friends. He often makes risotto because it’s easy to adjust the ingredients depending on who’s coming for dinner. “If you have friends who are vegan, you can use vegetable stock and no butter,” he explains. “If your friends like chicken, you can add chicken to it. If they like shrimp, you can add shrimp. It’s one of those unique dishes that is so versatile.”

Bright makes his risotto with sushi rice rather than with traditional risotto rice and says that home cooks can use any short-grain rice that produces starch. He tops his dish with a scallion salsa verde to cut the richness and likes pairing the risotto with the Late Harvest Riesling from New Westminster’s Pacific Breeze Winery.

Todd Bright's shrimp and corn risotto with scallion salsa verde

Ingredients

4 cups (1 L) vegetable stock
1 Tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
3 Tbsp (45 mL) unsalted butter, divided
2 shallots or 1 small onion, chopped
1½ cups (375 mL) sushi rice
½ cup (125 mL) white wine
1 lb (454 g) side-stripe shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 ears fresh corn, kernels only
1 Tbsp (15 mL) Italian parsley, chopped Scallion salsa verde (see recipe below)

Method

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the stock to a simmer. Once simmering, lower heat and continue to simmer.
    
2. In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the oil and 1 Tbsp (15 mL) of the butter over medium heat. When butter is melted, add shallots and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until shallots are slightly translucent.
    
3. Add rice and stir briskly so that grains become coated in oil. Sauté for 1 minute, until there is a nutty aroma but rice does not brown.
    
4. Add wine to the mixture and stir continuously until liquid is fully absorbed.
    
5. Add a ladleful of stock to the rice, stirring continuously. Once liquid is nearly absorbed, repeat step for 20 to 30 minutes, or until rice is tender.
    
6. When risotto is almost done cooking, stir in shrimp and corn. Cook about 2 minutes, or until shrimp are pink.
    
7. Stir in remaining 2 Tbsp (30 mL) butter and chopped parsley. Add salt to taste.
    
8. To serve, divide risotto between 4 bowls and drizzle with scallion salsa verde.

Scallion salsa verde

2 bunches green onions, ends trimmed
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch parsley
½ cup (125 mL) canola oil
¼ cup (60 mL) mirin
¼ cup (60 mL) lemon juice
⅓ cup (90 mL) rice wine vinegar

1. Blitz green onions, cilantro, and parsley in a food processor until roughly chopped.
    
2. With the food processor running, slowly add the oil to make an emulsion.
    
3. Add remaining ingredients and process until well combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Yield: 4 servings with leftover salsa verde.

Recipe has not been tested by the Georgia Straight.