Golden Barley Warmer

Golden Barley Warmer

The main thing to know about this dish is that it involves a lot of chopping; if you're not in the mood for chopping, then step away from the recipe now ...

But it's worth the trouble; firstly because you can make this sumptuous, warm, golden, richly flavoured vegetable casserole in a generous quantity - and  you can eat some now,  and squirrel away the rest in your freezer for later. 

Don't follow my ingredients list slavishly; you need some root vegetables, you need a grain, you need a sweetener such as tomatoes, a few herbs, and you could even scatter in some small green beans - or even a tin of cannelloni beans. A handful of chopped spring greens could work quite well and you could stir them in at the end of cooking time too. I think it's good to keep the carrots and the butternut squash - the golden colour perks you up in January and February when you really could do with some colour in your life.    

I tend to make this casserole dish in my electric pressure cooker, but it works totally well  in a conventional casserole dish; you can cook the whole lot in a pan on the hob, but could also transfer an ovenproof casserole dish to your oven  (190°C) to cook for about 45 minutes - and this will achieve a richer flavour. Keep an eye on how it's doing though, and stir every twenty minutes or so, to check whether it needs more liquid and to stop it from sticking. Liquid could be stock, a tin of tomatoes or even just water. 

So the ingredients and method are in the video (about 6 minutes long) ... 

The serves 6 - 8 people and freezes well. 

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil (to cover the bottom of your pan)
2 Cups of Pearl Barley
2 large carrots
I medium sized leek
2 parsnips
Half a cauliflower
1 butternut squash 3 sticks celery
5 potatoes
1 large white onion
4 largish tomatoes
 1 - 2 teaspoons (low salt) bouillon powder or a stock cube, dissolved in 6 cups boiling water
2 teaspoons lazy garlic or a couple of garlic cloves

And ... a few dashes of Tabasco sauce to serve 

Pesto Dressing

Quarter teaspoon lazy garlic
Handful of fresh basil
Handful of fresh mint
3 teaspoons of olive oil
Quarter (or less) teaspoon of salt

Method

1. Chop all the vegetables to fairly even sized pieces. You are not going to be blending this soup and so these need to be bite size or smaller. 
2. Warm the olive oil on a medium heat - use enough to thinly cover the bottom of your casserole dish or pressure cooker. Add the onion and garlic and let them soften a little before stirring in all of the rest of the vegetables. 
3. Mix up the vegetables and add the pearl barley and then immediately pour in the stock. 
4. Let the whole lot come to a boil and then turn to simmer. If you are using a pressure cooker, put the lid on at this point and once it has reached pressure, cook for 25 minutes. 
5. You can transfer a casserole dish to the oven at this point and remember to attend to it by carefully stirring a few times during the cooking time.  It will take about 45 minutes to get the vegetables to a good soft consistency and for all the flavours to get really richly flavoured. If you are using a hob, keep the dish to a simmer, stirring every now and then. You can always add more liquid if you like - maybe more stock, or even some tinned tomatoes if you like things sweet. 
6. While this stuff is cooking you can make a pesto - chop the basil and mint and combine in a small dish with the garlic and the oil. Sprinkle in a little salt and if you fancy, add a squeeze of lime. 
7. When the casserole is ready serve with hunks of bread and with pesto on the side and maybe a dash of Tabasco on each dish to taste.  
8. If you are freezing some of this, wait until it's cooled and bag it up. To de-frost, get out the morning you want it and leave in the fridge to defrost during the day. Warm gently on the hob or in the microwave until piping hot. 

For a downloadable pdf for the recipe click here.