I’ll send a big email around tomorrow about the secret site, I was too busy discussing library and county council related doodad this evening with Benny and I completely overshot my blog time.
We had a pleasant weekend, supported Darren in his triathlon attempts, had the usual few pints, did a bit of grocery shopping and so on. I tried a new recipe this evening for a pearl barley risotto with chives and peas, it was incredibly filling and we both have that smug semi-vegetarian feeling. Given the current economic conditions and our student-esque budget, it was time to look into cheaper than meat alternatives - lentils and beans and so on will be figuring more highly in our diet. If this evenings experiment is anything to go by I think it’ll be a fun way to pinch a few more pennies.
That recipe sounds really delicious. Would you mind sharing it?
No prob Sil, it’s fairly simple, and I knicked it from ‘Good Food’ magazine:
soften a finely chopped onion in 2 tbsp of olive oil, tip in 200g of pearl barley, sizzle a little, add a third of 1.2 litres of veg stock, gradually add the rest over the next half hour or so, possibly longer, I discovered my hob takes a lot longer than that of the person who wrote the original recipe.With about five mins to go toss in 140g of peas. When the barley is puffed and there’s hardly any liquid left, take it off the heat for a min and then pop in a handful of chopped fresh chives and half a pack of low call chive cream cheese. Stir it up and serve! It’s not bad, but I have to work on it a little to adjust it to our taste a bit better - let me know if you make any alterations
I think I’ll put in a bit of seasoned salt or tamari soy sauce. Then might try a dash of sweet basil. I love the smell and taste of fresh basil. I operate on the theory that basil goes with almost anything except sauerkraut.