Pearl Barley Risotto (orzotto) With Sauteed Mushrooms
photo by kzbhansen
- Ready In:
- 1hr 15mins
- Ingredients:
- 18
- Serves:
-
3
ingredients
-
Sauteed Mushrooms
- 0.04 lb dried porcini mushrooms
- 0.55 lb portabella mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 0.55 lb chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1⁄2 ounce butter
- 1⁄2 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, plus extra to serve
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
-
Orzotto
- 1⁄2 onion, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium sized carrot, finely grated
- 2 stalks celery, finely grated
- 0.44 lb pearl barley
- 1⁄2 cup dry white wine
- 3 1⁄8 cup vegetable stock
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
-
To serve
- slivers pecorino cheese
directions
- Place the dried porcini in a bowl and cover with 200ml of warm water, leave to soak for 30 minutes (you can use this time to prepare the other vegetables).
- Now start the orzotto: in a large saucepan, gently saute the onion in the olive oil until golden, then add the carrot, celery and pearl barley, turn up the heat and cook on a medium to high heat for 2 minutes.
- Add the wine and let it evaporate, then turn down the heat again to a low to medium temperature; add the stock a ladleful at a time, ensuring that the liquid is absorbed before adding the next ladleful of stock: this will take about 40 minutes and the pearl barley should be tender but with a bite.
- When the orzotto has been cooking for about 25 minutes, drain the porcini (save the liquid for other recipes) and start cooking the sauteed mushrooms: in a large lidded pan melt the butter and olive oil together and gently saute the onion and garlic until soft, stir in seasoning, add the mushrooms, porcini and parsley and cover and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid, turn up the heat and cook for about another 5 minutes, stirring the mushrooms, until most of the juices have evaporated.
- To serve: spoon the orzotto into a large round dish, pushing it towards the sides; spoon the mushroom mixture into the space left in the middle of the dish, sprinkle the mushrooms with parsley and pecorino cheese.
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Reviews
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Oh so very delicious! I've never cooked any barley before, although I've wanted to for some time... My husband and I both thought it was absolutely wonderful, I know I'll be making this quite often! I also added a ladle full of the mushroom liquid (from re-hydrating them) for an extra mushroom flavour boost. Thanks so much for posting this fabulous recipe :)
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This is fabulous!!! I loved this!!!The only changes that I made was to chop the celery and carrots, I used baby bellas and I sprinkled with fresh parmesan cheese. I also used chicken broth as I didnt have vegetable broth. I covered the orzotto toward the end of cooking cause some of my barley was still a bit hard and it worked great!! My 6 year old is on his 2nd bowl as I type!!! Thanks for posting!!! This will be made again!!!
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A really enjoyable, hearty meal, and very straightforward to make. Its the first time I'd used pearl barley and I loved the satisfying, texture of the big, plump grains; as a small adaptation to my taste, I think I'll stir in some parmesan into the rizotto next time to boost the savouriness a little.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Mrs B
Worcester Park, Surrey
I live with my husband and 2 cats in Worcester Park; a quiet typical 1930s suburb (which no one has ever heard of!) about 12 miles South West of London.
I'm a fair weather gardener and as my husband is a vegetarian I grow a few easy vegetables, such as tomatoes and peppers, mainly in containers. My husband loves growing flowers, the brighter the better, and we have a pretty garden as a result. Our cats, Araminta and Purrl, like it too!
I do a lot of cooking and try to keep our diet as healthy and varied as possible. Although I work full time, I use very little in the way of pre-prepared foods. This is partly because of the limited choice of vegetarian meals, which I think are overpriced anyway; but mainly because I like to know what goes in my food!
I love using the Internet for all the great ideas it gives me. Last year I participated in the Zaar World Tour (under my previous public name Caroline Blakey), which was great. Mr B and I tried lots of new foods and discovered new favourite meals. Researching recipes for the Tour was really interesting, however as I didn't have time to try them all, some were posted untested. I'm still working my way very slowly through them. To make matters worse I keep seeing other recipes I want to save and have also participated in Zaar world Tour II. So many recipes, so little time to make them!
<img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b112/kzbhansen/Banners/Animation3.gif">
My 'rules' for posting recipes are a) if I wouldn't make a particular recipe, I won't post it and b) if my husband wouldn't eat it, I won't post it. This means that all my recipes are vegetarian friendly.
As you will see from the number of recipes saved in my cookbooks, I particularly enjoy making jams and chutneys; I'd say it was one of my favourite hobbies. We always have a good supply of home preserves; my friends and work colleagues are well supplied too.
If we won the lottery (say £5m, as a good number) we'd like to give up work, move to the country and buy a place with a bit of land. In my dreams this would be a manor house or old vicarage, with a walled garden, an orchard where I could keep hens, a vegetable garden, etc, etc, etc! In my more realistic moments (the £1m win perhaps) I would like to run a B&B, perhaps offering Vegetarian taster weekends. Luckily it costs nothing to dream.......I’d also love more time to read, do embroidery, learn a language, see more of the countryside; and of course play on Zaar.