Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's barley recipes
Cold winter
nights are the perfect time to cosy up to the rich charms of barley
Cosy up: In this case could be to enjoy, get comfortable
Charms: Charm is the quality of being pleasant or attractive. C13: from Old French charme, from
Latin carmen song, incantation, from canere to sing.
Barley: Barley is a grain that is used to make food, beer, and whisky. (ordi / cebada)
Hugh
Fearnley-Whittingstall
Sat 6 Nov
2010 00.03 GMT
Sometimes the only way forward is backwards.
Barley, Europe's oldest cultivated cereal and once scorned
as a food of the poor or fit only for animal
feed, is, I reckon, a food of the future. It is a staple, of course, in old favourites such as Scotch broth and Irish stew, but it can also
take a starring, beguiling role in more outré broths and soups, in nutty, flavoursome salads, or as an alternative to arborio rice in creamy, risotto-style concoctions.
Scorn: If you scorn something, you
refuse to have it or accept it because you think it is not good enough or
suitable for you.
Fit: If something fits, it is the
right size and shape to go onto a person's body or onto a particular object. ( apte / apto )
Reckon: If you reckon that something is
true, you think that it is true.
Staple: A staple food, product, or activity is one that is
basic and important in people's everyday lives. Other important sense refers to
small pieces of bent wire that are used mainly for holding sheets of paper
together firmly. You put the staples into the paper using a device called a
stapler.
Broth: Broth is a kind of soup. It
usually has vegetables or rice in it. ( brou / caldo )
Stew: A stew is a meal which you make
by cooking meat and vegetables in liquid at a low temperature. ( estofat /
estofado)
Beguiling: Something that is beguiling is
charming and attractive.
Outré : Something that is outré is
very unusual and strange.
Nutty: If you describe food as nutty,
you mean that it tastes of nuts, has the texture of nuts, or is made with nuts.
Flavoursome: Flavoursome food has a strong,
pleasant taste and is good to eat.
Arborio
rice: Variety
of round-grain rice used for making risotto
Concoctions: A concoction is something that
has been made out of several things mixed together. ( barreja / mejunje )
Barley began its life as a wild grass in the
near east, and it has been a cultivated crop in some
parts of the world as far back as the sixth century BC, though it arrived in
Britain relatively late, about 500BC. Its name in Old English is bære, a clue to one of its
main uses in the brewing of beer. It's described in the traditional
English folksong John Barleycorn, which portrays the dramatic and violent life
cycle of barley, from reaping to threshing and malting and turning it into beer
and flour: "But a Miller used him worst of all, For he crush'd him between
two stones."
It's hard to imagine whether the grinding into flour and
transforming it into bread was harder on the grain or the eater.
Barley contains little gluten, so loaves made
exclusively from its flour are tough and heavy.
Roman gladiators were fed on barley bread, and were known as hordearii or
barley men, from the cereal's Latin name hordeum vulgare. These days, barley
flour is rarely used in isolation, but it does add a tasty, malty depth of
flavour when used in combination with other, gluten-rich flours. Your classic granary
loaf is speckled
with tangy flecks of malted
barley.
Grinding: Grinding is the process of breaking up particles. (moldre
/ moler )
Flour: Flour is a white or brown powder that is made by
grinding grain. It is used to make bread, cakes, and pastry. ( farina / harina
)
on the grain or the eater..: Note the elision of “on”
in the second part
Loaf
(loaves): A loaf
of bread is bread which has been shaped and baked in one piece. It is usually
large enough for more than one person and can be cut into slices.
Tough ((tʌf
): A tough
substance is strong, and difficult to break, cut, or tear. Chewy, fibrous, leathery, stringy
Granary
loaf: Bread –or
loaf- made from Granary (whole grains of wheat ) flour
Wheat: Wheat is a cereal crop grown
for food. Wheat is also used to refer to the grain of this crop, which is
usually ground into flour and used to make bread. ( blat / trigo )
Speckled: A speckled surface is covered with small marks, spots,
or shapes.
Tangy
flecks: Small
particles of strong savour
One plus point for barley down the ages, and
now, is that it is highly nutritious. Pot barley or Scotch
barley is dehulled, its outer, inedible casing removed, but
it still has its bran and germ, which makes it a good, high-fibre addition to
nutty, chewy salads. Pearl barley is dehulled and
then further processed to remove the bran. Lighter in flavour, it's still
enormously useful in the kitchen, adding a creamy richness to soups, stews and pilafs.
Pot
barley: Boiled barley? A pot is a deep round container
used for cooking stews, soups, and other food. ( pot, olla / bote,
olla )
Dehull: The opposite of hull.
Hull: Trim, peel, skin, shell
Outer: The outer parts of something are the parts which
contain or enclose the other parts, and which are furthest from the centre
Inedible: You can’t eat it.
Casing: A cover or shell that protects
or encloses something.
Chewy: If food is chewy, it needs to be chewed a lot before
it becomes soft enough to swallow. But it can be used for candies.
Pilaf: A dish made of rice or wheat boiled in a seasoned
liquid, and usually containing meat
When considering how to use barley in your
kitchen, think about substituting it for rice or couscous in any of your
favourite recipes. Try it, cooked until tender, with chopped, toasted hazelnuts, lots of chopped parsley
and/or mint and shredded, cooked leftover lamb or
chicken, and a mustardy vinaigrette for a substantial
salad – a portable deli/lunchbox version
of the Scotch broth. Stir it with fried
mushrooms in a rich pilaf (see today's recipe). Add pearl barley to a smoked
ham and vegetable broth.
Hazelnut: Hazelnuts are nuts from a hazel
tree, which can be eaten. (avellana)
Parsley: Parsley is a small plant with
flat or curly leaves that are used for flavouring or decorating savoury food (
julivert / perejil)
Shred: If you shred something such as
food or paper, you cut it or tear it into very small, narrow pieces.
Mustardy: Flavoured with mustard
Deli: Delicatessen
Stir: If you stir a liquid or other
substance, you move it around or mix it in a container using something such as
a spoon
Or for something truly unexpected, but very
simple and heartening, try the traditional Sephardi dish,
belila, made by simmering pearl barley until tender and
sweetening it with honey before stirring in rose- or orange-blossom
water and chopped almonds and/or pistachios. Traditionally served to celebrate
a child cutting its first tooth, it also makes a very good, warming breakfast,
either on its own or with some thick yoghurt stirred into it.
Heartening: Causing cheerfulness;
encouraging
Simmer: When you simmer food or when it simmers, you cook it
by keeping it at boiling point or just below boiling point.
Orange-blossom: The flowers of the orange tree
are called orange blossom. Orange blossom is white and is traditionally
associated with weddings in Europe and America. ( tarongina / azahar )
Spiced lamb and pearl
barley
This simple and delicious recipe is based on
keskek, a traditional dish served in vast quantities at weddings in the
Anatolian region of Turkey. Serves two to three.
(…)
Barley pilaf with
mushrooms and dill
Pearl barley makes a creamy and tasty pilaf
with the texture of a risotto. Serves four.
(…)
Barley, raisin and
walnut biscuits
The barley flour adds a slightly malty flavour
to these easy, spicy biscuits. Barleycorn bread flour is available from Dove's
Farm (dovesfarm.co.uk). Makes about 22 biscuits.
(…)
• Join River Cottage's new four-day cookery
course. For late booking in November, call Alex on 01297 630302.
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