Beets, Toasted Barley, and Burrata Salad

I’m nearly useless at growing food, but, still, I’m very interested in edible gardening. I’m extremely envious of those who so easily end up with way too much zucchini or plant tomatoes and have enough for canning. The best I can do is grow some herbs, try to keep my bay laurel tree alive, and keep watering my lemon trees in hopes of getting one or two lemons each year. I appreciated the enthusiasm for plant science and growing all sorts of vegetables in Veg-Table by Nik Sharma of which I received a review copy. He’s clearly a capable gardener. With his academic background in microbiology, biochemistry, molecular genetics, and public health policy, he has focused that education on food both scientifically and culinarily. This new book groups vegetables into families and offers information about their origins, uses, storage tips, and how to cook with them. The flavors are diverse, and the dishes cover all seasons. Although it is obviously very vegetable-forward, it’s not an entirely plant-based cookbook. And, for any less-familiar vegetables, there are handy cook’s notes with each recipe that tell you what to look for and why as you prepare them. I started cooking from this book back when golden beets and bok choy were in season, but I’m still cooking from it lately with summer okra. In the intro to the chapter where you’ll find the bok choy recipe, the mustard family of plants is described. There’s an interesting explanation about the enzyme myrosinase which is released when brassicas are chopped. It produces a sulfurous smell and bitter flavor, and that effect can be reduced by soaking the chopped vegetables in cold water. I love learning the science behind food like this. For the Bok Choy with Crispy Tofu, the bok choy was steamed and then briefly stir-fried. The tofu was crisped with a coating of panko and black and white sesame seeds, and the dish was garnished with green onion and chile crisp. The Okra, Feta, and Barley Salad with Pumpkin Seed Sauce was a fun mix of flavors and textures. I added shrimp on top, and the sauce was fantastic with the salad and the shrimp.

The Beets, Toasted Barley, and Burrata Salad was another terrific combination. Now that the season for beets has passed, I’m thinking this would also be great with tomatoes and cucumbers in their place. For the version shown here, the beets were boiled and peeled before being added to a mix of rice vinegar, maple syrup, poppy seeds, red pepper flakes, and salt. That mixture was brought to a boil and then simmered, and then the beets were stored in the vinegar in the refrigerator before the salad was assembled. The barley was toasted in a dry skillet and crushed with a mortar and pestle. To plate the salad, arugula was spread on a platter, burrata was placed on top, the pickled beets were added with the ground toasted barley, and olive oil was drizzled to finish. 

 

This book has a lot to offer with all the plant science information and insights about how to use a variety of vegetables. And, the range of flavors in these recipes will bring new tastes to the table. While I’m struggling to keep my basil alive in the heat and use it while it’s growing, I never would have thought to add some to a roasted tomato miso sauce. I have to try that and lots more from this book.

 

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Spring Barley Risotto

Spring is here, and I'm having a thing with asparagus. I keep bringing it into every meal. It partners so well with eggs like in a baked egg dish with parmesan I've been making for years or even just simply roasted and then topped with softly scrambled eggs. For dinner meals, I've been making different grain dishes with asparagus and other spring players like scallions, leeks, and peas. This barely risotto was my favorite of those so far, and it's another recipe from Power Foods. I have bookmarks sticking out of several pages of that book, and last week, I asked for votes on Twitter about which of two dishes to try next. It was this risotto or stuffed poblanos, and it was a very close race. Of course, I made the poblanos too, so watch for those soon. In making the barley risotto, I embellished the dish just a tad by adding some pea shoots I had from my CSA and by sprinkling a little lemon zest on top. Otherwise, I stuck to the instructions for a simple, light, spring meal. And, unlike a traditional Arborio rice risotto, this one doesn’t require constant stirring.

To start, a little olive oil was heated in a large pan, and pearl barley and chopped leeks were added. Once the leeks had softened, white wine was added and minimal stirring ensued until the wine evaporated. Then, water was added, brought to a boil, and left to simmer until absorbed with just an occasional stir here and there. Vegetable broth was added next and the mixture was stirred occasionally over about 10 or 15 minutes until the barley was cooked through and the liquid had thickened. I placed a big handful of pea shoots on top and let them steam for the last few minutes. Then, thawed, frozen peas were added with grated parmigiano reggiano and thinly sliced mint leaves. I served the risotto with lemon zest and shards of parmigiano on top.

It's a light dish with no butter and just a half cup of grated cheese, but chewy, nutritious barley rounds it out and makes it filling. The spring vegetables shine, and the mint points up their flavors. I know zucchini is coming soon, along with summer tomatoes in every color, but I need a little more time with asparagus first.

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Minestra di Orzo e Lenticchie

This is one more dish from last month’s La Cucina Italiana, and then I promise to move on and cook other things. Orzo in the title is Italian for barley rather than the name for rice-shaped pasta. Barley must be the new lemon because I've been using it so much in one month. Lenticchie are lentils, which I love year round, but they are especially perfect in this wintry soup. I didn’t find the castelluccio or colfiorito lentils recommended in the recipe, so I used the basic brown lentils, the origins of which I don’t know, from the bulk section at Central Market.

Onion, carrot, and celery were sautéed in a large skillet before the barley, lentils, and white wine were added. That combination cooked until the wine was reduced to almost nothing, and then vegetable broth was added and allowed to simmer. Scooped into bowls and anointed with olive oil, it was served with a few chopped celery leaves on top. Sitting down to a meal of soup sounds less than hearty, but this particular soup will surprise you. It retains some broth, but the barley absorbs quite a lot of the liquid. So, even though it’s not creamy or blended, it feels like a thick soup. One small bowl was enough for me to feel full and happy. It’s a simple meal, but the chewy barley and tender lentils in the hot flavorful broth are unbelievably filling and satisfying.

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Seared Portobello and Wilted Greens over Barley Pilaf

While looking through my filed, old magazine pages, I re-discovered this meal which I think came from Living magazine in 1998. The issue date is not printed on the page, and I couldn’t find this recipe on the web site, but an ad on the back of the page has a 1998 copyright date. And, that concludes my research into the origins of seared portobello and mixed greens over barley pilaf. In the magazine, it was made with chard, but I used a mix of braising greens from my CSA. This is, indeed, one of those grainy, healthy, vegetarian types of meals, but sometimes that’s just what I want. Even though it is very healthy, the portobellos lend a savory meatiness, and barley is a hearty, chewy grain, so the meal doesn’t feel lacking or too light. Also, the sauce provides extra flavor and just a hint of richness.

I made a couple of minor changes to the original recipe, and there’s one more change I would make next time. To begin, onion was briefly cooked before the barley was added. Next time, I would let the onion caramelize and then add the barley. Cooking the onion further would have developed even more flavor in the barley layer of the dish. With that in mind, here’s how I’ll prepare this in the future:

3 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
3/4 c barley
2 large portobellos, stems trimmed
1/4 c marsala wine
2 c vegetable broth
2 t chopped fresh rosemary
1 lb braising greens, stemmed and chopped
1 T unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

- heat a medium saucepan over medium high heat with 1 T olive oil, add onion and stir until just browned
- add barley to saucepan and stir frequently until toasted, about eight minutes
- add about one teaspoon of salt and 1 1/2 c water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and let simmer until water is absorbed, about 20 minutes; remove saucepan from heat and keep covered
- heat a large skillet over medium heat with 2 T olive oil, add portobellos, tops up, cover, and cook for eight minutes; turn portobellos and cook eight minutes more; transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm
- add marsala to skillet and cook while stirring to loosen any bits stuck to the pan; increase heat to high and add vegetable broth, rosemary, and several turns of a pepper grinder; cook until liquid has reduced to 1/2 c, about 12 minutes; taste and adjust seasoning as needed
- add greens to skillet and cook, stirring, until greens have wilted and softened, about three minutes; transfer greens to a plate
- add butter to skillet and stir to incorporate
- spoon barley onto the center of each of two plates, top each with half the greens, slice the portobellos and place on top of greens, spoon sauce over top, and sprinkle on extra chopped rosemary if you’d like

Barley is a natural fit with mushrooms to my mind, and the greens joined in well. The flavors were earthy and wintery with the rosemary accent, the sauce had a nice depth, and the butter, of course, made all the difference. This healthy meal was quick to prepare and disappeared from our plates even more quickly.

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