Naked Pearl Barley, Roast Squash and Romanesco Sauce

This recipe is made by the founder of Hodmedods, Josiah Meldrum. The company sells UK-grown pulses and grains, from Pearl Barley to Chickpeas to Carlin Peas, paving the way for a more localised, sustainable and equitable grain and pulses food system.

You can get your hands on some Hodmedods products at our farm shop. This recipe takes about 45-50 minutes, and serves 2 people.

Ingredients:
 
• 200g Pearled Naked Barley
• 500g Squash
• 300 to 400g Tomatoes
• 3 or 4 Romano Peppers or the dried version (if the latter, skip the roasting)
• 50g Almonds
• Half a slice of Bread
• 4 or 5 Spring Onions
• 3 or 4 Cloves of Garlic
• Vegetable Stock
• Splash of Tamari
• 1 Lemon
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

1.         Preheat your oven to 200C/ 180C Fan.
2.         Cover the pearled naked barley with stock and simmer for about 20 mins adding more stock if required. Leave it to stand, it’ll continue soaking up stock.
3.         Wash and cut the squash into wedges (don’t peel it), roast with salt and oil.
4.         Top and remove the seeds from the peppers, add them to a separate roasting tin to the squash with the garlic, tomatoes, oil and salt. Roast until the squash is soft and the tomatoes and peppers blackening a little.
5.         Put the bread, almonds and roasted toms and peppers in a blender - whizz until smooth. Add some stock if it seems too thick, or more bread if too thin. Season to taste.
6.         In a wide pan heat some oil and butter, coarsely chop the spring onions and fry for a couple of minutes - just to soften the flavour a little.
7.         If there’s a lot of stock, drain the barley, but a bit of stock is good. Add to the pan with the spring onion, season with tamari and pepper. Finish with a squeeze of lemon before you serve