Given my holiday fling last summer with dakos (Crete's barley crisp bread) and my longer relationship with miso (in which barley is often a key ingredient), it's no wonder food writer Diana Henry assumed I had cracked barley in all its forms. She told me on Twitter thatshe expected I already knew potbarley makes "a lovely wintry tabbouleh with pomegranates". Well,no, I didn't. But I do now (and also her equally smart idea to use pot barley instead of rice in mejadra).
Whole (as opposed to rolled or ground) barley comes three ways: asa whole grain, as pot barley or as pearl barley. The difference between them is the degree to which their tough outer shell has been removed. Pot, or Scotch, barley has its outer casing hulled (pearl barley also has it removed, and is then polished clean, while it's left on for whole grain), which gives it an inherent nuttiness and bite that allows it to stand more alone in a dish. The ingredients lists for this week's recipes are hardly short – I can't help myself – but they don't call attention to themselves inquite the same way as the strong flavours I pair with pearl barley can. The texture and taste of pot barley is more interesting, so it needs less help.
Pot barley takes longer to cook than pearl, but an overnight soak in water will speed things along. It's a robust grain that, if overcooked, won't collapse but will become more tender. It's wonderfully versatile, too: try it instead of pasta, rice, couscous or bulgur wheat next time you reach for those cupboard staples.
Pot barley and lentils with mushrooms and fried onion
The fried onion makes this one of the most unvirtuous, comforting lentil dishes Ican think of. I'd be happy to have this by itself as a light supper. Serves four.
20g dried porcini
120g pot barley, covered with cold water and soaked overnight
2 medium onions
170g brown lentils
2 tbsp plain flour
About 600ml sunflower oil
2 tbsp olive oil
1½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 large portobello mushrooms, sliced into 1cm strips
Zest of 1 lemon, peeled into long, thin strips
½ tsp caster sugar
Salt and black pepper
1 tbsp dried mint
1 tbsp lemon juice
10g dill, roughly chopped
10g parsley, roughly chopped
60g sour cream (optional)
Put the porcini in a bowl, cover with 400ml boiling water and leave to stand for an hour. Once cool, lift out the mushrooms and strain the liquid through a sieve lined with a J-cloth to remove any grit, then return the mushrooms to the liquid.
Drain and rinse the pot barley, then put it in a large saucepan with the lentils. Pour on cold water to come 5cm above the barley and lentils, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-high and cook for 15to 20 minutes at a rolling simmer, until the lentils and barley are cooked but hold their shape. Drain, transfer to a bowl and leave to cool down.
Peel and halve one onion, and cut it into thin slices lengthways. Put in a small bowl, add the flour and toss gently. Pour the sunflower oil in a medium saucepan so that it comes 2cm up the sides. Put the pan on a high heat and, once the oil is hot, add half the sliced onion and fry for three to four minutes, until golden-brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer to aplate lined with kitchen towel, andrepeat with the rest of the slicedonion. Set aside to cool.
Peel and halve the second onion and cut each half into 2cm-wide wedges. Put a large sauté pan on ahigh heat, add the olive oil, then fry the onion wedges for five minutes, stirring frequently, until charred and soft. Stir in the ground spices, cook for 30 seconds, then add the portobello mushrooms, lemon strips and half a teaspoon each of sugar and salt. Fry for three minutes, stirring from time to time, until the mushrooms start to soften and gain some colour. Add the porcini and all their soaking liquid, then boil rapidly for five minutes, until only about six tablespoons of liquid are left in the pan. Turn the heat to low, add the lentils and barley to the pot, as well as the dried mint, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a generous grind of black pepper. Stir, cook for a minute more, then remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, dill, parsley and crisp fried onion.
Transfer to a large platter or individual plates, and serve warm – Ilike mine topped with a big spoonful of sour cream.
Smoked haddock with pot barley and poppy seeds
Serves four.
200g pot barley, covered with cold water and soaked overnight
3 tbsp olive oil, plus 1 tsp extra tofinish
1 tsp lemon juice
15g basil, finely shredded
15g dill, finely chopped
15g tarragon, finely chopped
Salt and black pepper
500ml full-fat milk
1 small onion, peeled and halved
1 tsp black peppercorns
200g boneless and skinless smoked haddock fillet, cut into four pieces
1 tsp poppy seeds
For the sauce
100g crème fraîche
45g mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
¼ tsp caster sugar
⅓ tsp white wine vinegar
Put all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl, add a pinch of salt and stir to combine. Cover and keep in the fridge until required.
Drain and rinse the barley and put it in a medium saucepan. Cover with lots of water – the pan should be three-quarters full – bring to a boil, and on a medium heat simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes: the barley should be cooked through but retain some bite. Drain, return to the pot and add the oil, lemon juice, herbs, a teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper. Cover and set aside somewhere warm.
While the barley is cooking, put the milk, onion and peppercorns in a large saute pan on a medium-high heat. As soon as it starts to boil, add the fish, turn the heat to medium and cover. Leave for five minutes, then take off the heat: the fish should just flake when you touch it.
To serve, divide the warm barley between four plates and lay a piece of fish over each portion. Spoon on the sauce, finish with a drizzle of oil and a sprinkling of poppy seeds, and serve at once.
Pot barley, orange and sesame pudding
This is like rice pudding with texture, for those who don't mind using their teeth to eat pudding. It's also totally delicious. Serves two to four.
½ tbsp each white and black sesame seeds, toasted (or use 1 tbsp white)
1½ tbsp dark muscovado sugar
125g pot barley, covered with cold water and soaked overnight
750ml whole milk
½ vanilla pod, seeds scraped
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon,
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
Salt
20g tahini paste
For the orange syrup
1 medium orange
40g caster sugar
¼ tsp orange blossom water
Start with the orange syrup. Shave off a long strip of orange peel, avoiding the pith, and put in a small pan. Trim off top and bottom of the orange, then cut down its sides to remove all the skin and pith. Working over a small bowl to catch any juice, cut out the segments by slicing between the membranes. Add the segments to the bowl and set aside.
Add the caster sugar to the pan with the peel and add 75ml water. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves – this should take less than a minute. Setaside to cool, then add the orange segments and juices, and theorange blossom water.
Roughly crush the sesame seeds in a pestle and mortar with a teaspoon of muscovado sugar, and set aside.
Drain and rinse the barley. Tip it into a medium saucepan with the remaining muscovado sugar, milk, vanilla pod and seeds, citrus zest and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally, until the barley is cooked but still has some bite: if it's becomes very thick, add a little milk towards the end. Leave to cool for five minutes, then remove the vanilla pod and divide between four bowls. Dribble a teaspoon of tahini over each portion, spoon over the orange segments and syrup, sprinkle with sesame and serve.
Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi and Nopi in London.
Follow Yotam on Twitter.
