Barley Paella

Barley has this wonderfully comforting chewiness which makes it an excellent substitute for starchy arborio or calaspara in either risottos or paella. It also carries the tag of being a super food, which helps obviate the guilt. Processed barley comes in two forms, hulled barley and pearl barley. Hulled barley retains the outer husk and while being rich in fiber has a chewy almost fibrous texture and extended cooking time that makes it a pain to cook with. The more processed form, pearl barley, has the outer husk removed, which makes it look like little white opals. While its less rich in fiber, it has a milder and more palatable flavour while retaining its super-food levels of selenium and protein. The mild flavour and chewy texture makes it an excellent substitute for short-grained rice or pasta or to add body to stews. 

Processed barley is almost always dried and packaged, and thus before cooking, the grains need to be soaked in plenty of water for at least 6 hours but preferably overnight. Once this is done, the cooking time reduces to 15-20 minutes from the 45 otherwise.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried pearl barley grains, pre-soaked for at least 6 hours
• 3-4 slices of chorizo or other cured sausage, chopped
• 1/2 green capsicum, thickly sliced
• 8-9 small prawns, cleaned and de-veined
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp saffron dust
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• chopped parsley or coriander to garnish
• 1 lemon half

Method

1. Heat the stock to boiling and then take it off the heat.
2. Add the saffron dust to the cup of warm water and leave it to infuse.
3. Heat the olive oil in a thick bottomed pan with a lid. Add the chopped chorizo/sausage, onion and garlic and sweat it down.
4. Drain the pearl barley grains and add it to the frying onions. Toss around to coat the grains with the oil and let it cook till the grains turn a little opaque.
5. Add the saffron infused water and stir around. Cook on high heat till the saffron water is absorbed by the grain. 
6. Add the tomatoes, capsicum and paprika and toss around. Add the warm stock and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and cover with the lid.
7. Cook the grains on low and covered for at least 20 minutes. At 15 minutes, stir the grains and add the salt and prawns. Then cover and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed.
8. Once the liquid is absorbed take off the heat and leave aside, covered, to cool and meld together for 5 minutes.
9. Add the garnish and squeeze the lime over before serving.

Paella de Marisco

Paella, in all its forms and variants, is the perfect dish to cap a lazy weekend. Its a non-fussy dish that practically cooks itself and is a great way of finishing up leftover vegetables and meats. As a student I'd make a large batch of it at lunch on Sunday, then store and have it during the week. The rice typically used for paella is either calasparra or bomba, but any medium grain low starch rice can be used; I've used rose matta rice as it expands into these chewy and almost round rice grains that are textually differentiable from peas, prawns and squid. The only absolute necessities in a paella are chorizo (or any sausage cured with paprika) and paprika, and you can play around with all the other ingredients to find your own balance. I didn't have any chorizo around, so I used Hungarian sausage instead and upped the chili flakes.

Ingredients

• 5-6 thin slices of chorizo, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 red peppers with one finely diced
• 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 cups medium grain rice (like rose matta or calasparra)
• 6-7 strands of saffron
• 1 tsp chili flakes
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 cup peas
• 4 cups chicken/fish stock
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 8-9 prawns, cleaned and deveined
• 19-20 cooked clams
• 6 squids, cleaned and cut into thick rings
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt to taste
• Chopped parsley and lime to serve

Method

1. Heat the stock on medium heat till it starts to boil. Switch it off and add the saffron. Mix it around so that the golden hue of the saffron diffuses through the stock. The saffron is only present in the recipe to add that light golden colour to the rice grains. It can easily replaced with 1 tsp turmeric for a punchier yellow.
2. Roast the un-diced red pepper, either in an oven or over the stove. Once the skin blackens in parts on each side, take off and let it cool. Then peel the skin off and cut into longitudinal strips.
3. Heat the oil in a flat-bottomed pan with a lid. Once smoking, add the chorizo and fry to a crisp.
4. Add the garlic, onions and diced red pepper and fry it in the oil. Once the onions become translucent, add the tomatoes, thyme, peas, paprika and chili flakes and stir around. Cook on a high heat until the tomatoes lose their firmness and then add the rice.
5. Stir the rice around to make sure that the oil coats each individual grain.
6. Add the wine and cook the rice until the wine is completely absorbed.
7. Then pour in half the stock, reduce the heat to medium high and cover with a lid. Once the stock's been poured in, avoid stirring the rice.
8. It should take around 10-15 minutes for the stock to be absorbed by the rice. Once absorbed, add the prawns and the remaining stock. 
9. Cook on a medium high heat and put the lid back on. Once most of the stock is absorbed, and only a thin film of it is left, add the squid rings and clams, and salt to taste.
10. Put the lid back on and let it cook until the stock is completely absorbed.
11. Take off the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes, covered. Garnish with parsley and the juice of the lime and serve up.

Gazpacho

I remember seeing this being made on Planet Food and just being amazed at how easy it is. There are two variants, one made with ground almonds and the other with tomatoes. It just uses a handful of ingredients and is a great way to use stale bread. It also very cooling, especially with the cucumber garnish, and is a great accompaniment at lunch.

Ingredients

• 200g stale bread 
• 4 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil 
• 2 tbsp chopped cucumber
• Some matchsticks of cucumber for the garnish
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 rehydrated red chilies, chopped
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Remove the crust from the bread and soak it in some water for 10 minutes to soften it.
2. Add the bread, garlic, cucumber and chilies to a food processor and blend it till it resembles coarse sand. 
3. Add the red wine vinegar and tomatoes and blend it into a smooth mixture.
4. Add the wine and blitz it to create a thick emulsification.
5. Add some salt and pepper to taste and add the cucumber match-sticks as a garnish.
6. Keep in the fridge to cool for an hour and serve.