Orzotto

Barley cooked risotto-style, which takes twice as long and needs no resting.

Not vegetarian — contains chicken stock, parmesan whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 300 g pearl barley
• 1.3 litres vegetable or chicken stock, hot
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 60 g butter
• 80 g parmesan, grated
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1.5 teaspoons salt

Method

1. Soften the onion in the oil without colouring it, 8 minutes.
2. Add the barley and toast it 2 minutes, then the wine, and let it go.
3. Add the hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring, as for a risotto.
4. GIVE IT 45 TO 50 MINUTES, not the 18 a rice would take. Barley is hulled and polished but still far tougher than arborio, and the commonest mistake is calling it done at the point rice would be — it will still be hard in the middle.
5. It will need more stock than the recipe says if the barley is older. Keep the kettle on.
6. Beat in the butter and parmesan off the heat. THERE IS NO RESTING STEP: barley does not continue to absorb the way rice does, so it goes straight to the plate at the consistency it has.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes