Nigel Slater’s pearl barley with peas and smoked mackerel
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Version 0 of 1. The recipe Put 200g of pearl barley into a saucepan with 500ml of vegetable stock and bring it to the boil. Lower the heat to an enthusiastic simmer and leave to cook for about 20 minutes until almost all the stock has been absorbed. Put two eggs on to boil. Warm 50g of butter in a shallow pan and add three teaspoons of your favourite curry powder. Sizzle the spices for a minute or two then add 150g of cooked peas. (Frozen peas, cooked for two minutes then drained, are perfect for this.) As soon as the peas are hot and coated in spiced butter, stir them through the cooked pearl barley. Tear 250g of smoked mackerel into large shards and fold gently through the barley. Shell the eggs and cut into quarters, tuck them into the barley and serve. Enough for 2. The trick Take care cooking the barley. It is worth keeping an eye on the liquid levels, topping up with a little more hot stock if needed. Ideally there should be a thin film left in the bottom of the pan at the end. Note that “pot” barley still has its husk and will take a lot longer to cook than “pearl”. The twist There is an element of kedgeree about this dish. You could happily swap the mackerel for poached smoked haddock and use rice instead of pearl barley. My own temptation would be to include some wild rice, for the textural contrast. Follow the Observer Magazine on Twitter @ObsMagazine |