Spinach and pork orzotto

Orzotto is just like a risotto, but with pearl barley instead of rice. Once you have got that into your head then you just follow the same principle   and you have something that is cheaper to make as you do not have to pay for very expensive risotto rice. I know I should not and the real foodies amongst you will say it is wrong but at home I use pudding rice, half the price just as nice. Now you do not have to follow this recipe and you can use almost anything really, mushrooms, butternut squash or chicken.

You will need

Virgin olive oil

1 small onion

1 carrot

1 stick of celery

2 cloves of garlic

A few fresh sage leaves

150g/5½oz pork mince

200g/7oz pearl barley

120g/4oz spinach

½ glass white wine

1 litre/1¾ pint water

A handful of flat leaf parsley

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Take your onion, carrot, celery and  garlic then  dice them as fine as you can , you need to cook them slowly and sweat all the flavour out of them, so the finer the better.

So start by adding a good slash of oil to a large flat sauce pan and then add the onions pork and garlic.  Cook until the onions are soft and the pork has started to brown off. Now add the pearl barley and let that cook for a while taking on the oils and fat. Now add the rest of your diced vegetables and half the wine then some of the water. You then continue to cook this like a risotto, adding some water, letting it be absorbed by the pearl barley, then some more water.  You keep this up for about 30 minutes until the barley is fully cooked.

About twenty five minutes before you finish cooking add the rest of the wine, diced sage and the spinach, let that wilt down in to the cooking.

Then remove from the heat add a little olive oil and the chopped parsley and stir that in and you are done. All you have to do is season with salt and pepper and serve.