Recipe: Barley Risotto

When it comes to eating local foods you sometimes realize that substitutions need to be made.  Risotto is one dish that we’ve found we can eat in a 100% local version, so long as we replace the rice with a local grain.  

Barley lends itself well to replacing rice in risotto for a number of reasons.  Although the final taste and texture are fairly different from rice, it does just as good of a job at soaking up the flavours of the dish and holding its form.  Barley actually takes more liquid than rice which gives it a bigger opportunity to take on the surrounding flavours of the risotto.

There are a decent number of variations on this theme on the internet, including bacon barley risotto and mushroom barley risotto.  This recipe keeps it very simple and vegetarian, with just some onions and carrots for the additions.

We used our own hard cider instead of wine and it worked well, but you can just use whatever is easiest to find or whatever you already have.  You can serve the risotto as a main dish or a side.  We had it as a main but felt that the whole meal was sort of a meal of sides.  

A similar use for barley is in tabbouleh, where it replaces the bulgur wheat.  Another use is in a beef stew with lots of veggies.  We bought Oak Manor pearl barley (this barley is great for cooking as the husk has been removed) in the 12kg size from Bailey’s and assume this means we’ll be eating barley dishes all winter!  

Barley Risotto

Recipe from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, available at KPL.

• 4 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
• 4 cups water
• 1 tbsp. oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 ½ cups pearl barley
• 1 cup white wine or hard cider
• 1 tsp. thyme (fresh or dry)
• 2 ounces parmesan or other hard cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
• 1 tbsp. butter
• Salt and pepper

In one pot bring the broth and water to a simmer.  In a second larger pot or Dutch oven heat the oil and add the onion and carrot.  Cook the vegetables until they are soft.  

Add the barley to the veggies and stir until they are beginning to get lightly toasted, a few minutes.  Add the wine or cider and cook until it is fully absorbed.

Add the thyme and 3 cups of the warm broth.  Over the next hour or so continue adding broth to the risotto and stirring occasionally.  Any time the broth has mostly been absorbed add more.  As it cooks you’ll need to stir more frequently.  I recommend having a book nearby to read for a few minutes at a time between stirs….

When the broth is all cooked into the risotto or the barley is cooked sufficiently turn off the heat.  Stir in the parmesan and butter and season with salt and pepper to your liking.  

Serve with an Ontario white wine or a very local KW Craft Cider!

So Much Asparagus

So you bought a ton of asparagus, now what?

Asparagus season is a great time of year.  Partly because asparagus is the first real vegetable of spring, but also because it’s just such a tasty vegetable.  If you’re anything like me you might find yourself buying it multiple times in a week while it’s in season because of the fear that it will soon be gone.  However, if you just end up cooking it and throwing a little butter on it every night you might be missing out on some other delicious opportunities.  And what if you don’t save any of it for later in the year?  You don’t want to end up eating asparagus from Chile… or maybe you do, but I don’t.  So be sure to freeze some of it. 

Have it with eggs

One of our family’s favourite things to do with asparagus is making it the main course of our meal by pairing it up with some eggs.  A fancy way to do this is to make an asparagus and mushroom quiche.  A simpler variation of the quiche is to make a frittata.  But the simplest method is to cook up some asparagus then top it with some fried eggs!  It’s easy, it’s tasty, and makes a grain light main dish.

Asparagus with Fried Eggs and Parmesan

Serves 4

Ingredients:

·        ½ - 1 lb asparagus, washed (and ends snapped off if tough)

·        4-6 eggs

·        1-2 tbsp. butter (or olive oil)

·        salt and pepper

·        grated parmesan cheese

Heat a pan over medium heat with about a half inch of water in it.  Add the asparagus, cover and cook for about 5 minutes.  Pour off the water, add the butter (or a bit of olive oil), a dash of salt and pepper and fry for a couple minutes, then remove from heat.

While the asparagus is cooking fry up the eggs without breaking the yolks.  Cover the eggs to help them cook since you won’t be flipping them.

Serve the asparagus topped with the eggs and sprinkle with the grated parmesan cheese (or other hard cheese) and a bit more freshly ground pepper.  Accompany the meal with some nice crusty bread and a simple Caesar salad, it’s like eating spring!

Simple Spring Greens Caesar Salad

Ingredients:

·        Assorted spring greens (lettuce, spinach, chard, beet greens, dandelion greens, pea shoots, etc.)

·        ¼ cup olive oil (or local oil)

·        2 tbsp. cider vinegar

·        2 tbsp. mayonnaise

·        1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

·        1-2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tsp. garlic powder)

·        salt and pepper

·        grated parmesan cheese

Rinse and dry the greens, then chop them coarsely.  Make the dressing by adding all the ingredients to a small jar and shaking. Toss the greens and dressing, top with parmesan and serve.

Tons of Asparagus Variation: If you have so much asparagus you don’t know what to do with it cook up a bit more by blanching it (cook it in boiling water for 4-5 minutes, then cool it in ice water) and add it to the Caesar!

Frozen Berry Coffee Cake

I grew up with blackberry coffee cake every Sunday morning.  I’m pretty sure the secret family recipe featured Bisquick pancake mix.  In an attempt to make the cake more local this recipe replaces all refined sugars with maple syrup and honey, and makes use of an overnight rest to soften the whole wheat flour.  If you look in your freezer and don’t have any frozen fruit then you know that this summer you need to freeze more (which is how I feel after finishing the raspberries in this cake!). 

Frozen Berry Coffee Cake

Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking’s “Blueberry Cake.”

Cake Batter:

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

(or 1 cup of hard sifted flour or light spelt flour instead of the above flours)

⅓ cup milk

¼ cup melted butter or oil

⅓ cup maple syrup

½ tsp. vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

2 cups frozen berries (blueberries/serviceberries/raspberries/strawberries/blackberries…)

Streusel Topping:

⅓ cup whole wheat or hard sifted flour

2-3 tbsp. oats/barley flakes/spelt flakes

¼ cup cold butter, chopped into pieces (or use a fork to crush the butter)

¼ cup honey

2-3 tbsp. unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

2-3 tbsp. ground walnuts or pecans (optional)

Mix together the flours, milk, butter/oil, and maple syrup, cover and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning add the salt, baking powder, and egg.  Pour/scoop the batter into a greased cake pan (or pie dish) and top with the frozen berries.  Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix together the streusel topping with a fork or pastry cutter until the butter and dry ingredients have formed together into pea-sized clumps.  Alternatively you can use a food processor to mix it all together. 

Cover the berries with the streusel and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick or fork inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. 

Serve with some really deliciously-strong [organic fair trade] coffee….

Recipe from Jon Spee who blogs about cooking local foods and homebrewing in KW.