Pearl Barley and it's delights

As I've been ill for about...oh...say 2 months now, I have been finding pleasure in more earthly pass times. For example, last night was bonfire night and instead of supping on hot toddies around a bonfire and wincing at inappropriate firework misuse I instead, did my ironing, read the online manual for my Micro Korg and caught up on some new bands that I'm really 'digging' right now via the social graveyard but still fighting fit musical hub that is Myspace.

Since none of my time recently has been spent doing things I had been enjoying up until I was struck down with illness (mainly recreational activities not recommended for sick people) I have been re-discovering more kidney safe exploits. One being, cooking with Pearl Barley. My mum, no disrespect, isn't exactly a culinary whizz, I mean, at baked good such as bread, buns and the ever lacking on the mainland tray bake she is the master, no doubt but dinner in our house is never a taste bud sensation. That is, apart from two of the main Northern Ireland staples, Irish stew and vegetable soup. The latter of the two dishes should not be muddled with your standard, from a can solidified mess that most people think of and are equally bored by. A steamy hot broth with carrots, leeks, onion and parsley with tiny nuggets of white aldente excitement which swirl around, seducing you at the surface with several kernels before you delve deep and reap the benefits of their bottom of the bowl lair. In order to inject some goodness back into my decrepit body, I made so much of this soup, to my mums recipe, that I could have eaten in for several weeks if it hadn't been for the slight fuzz that began to hover on its surface around week two.

So, after the vegetable soup I was still left with a fairly substantial bag of pearly delights. When you're house bound and pyjama ridden, rustling up lunch from the contents of a dusty (literally) larder becomes the greatest challenge of your day, that and "how can I wear my hair that won't make it obvious I haven't bathed in five days". So with the addition of frozen peas a plenty, vegetable stock cubes and a rattly old onion, I embarked on making a Pearl Barley risotto. Basically, go about making a risotto in the usual way but instead of rice, use the barley. I've been eating the fruits of my labour for three days now and rightly so, it took me the best part of an evening to make but let me tell you...it.was.worth.it.

ALL HAIL PEARL BARLEY...the all new/newly re-discovered larder staple for all.