Did you know that you can prepare risotto not only with rice but also with barley or even millet? Then you will call them barlotto or millotto. Funny names!
For my barlotto I prefer to soak my grains at least one day, even better two or three days so that a fermentation will start. It’s perfectly fine though to avoid the soaking by using pearl barley.
The combination of pumpkin-melted cheese will give an incredibly creamy texture to this dish. If you prefer to avoid the cheese you can add some almond butter or even use just pumpkin. This will be delicious and creamy enough!
Pumpkin Barlotto
Servings: 2 people
Equipment
- Pressure cooker (optional)
Ingredients
- 100 g barley
- 300 g pumpkin, cooked and diced in small chunks
- olive oil
- rosemary, sprig
- 1 dl white wine
- salt, to taste
- 50 g (parmesan) cheese
Instructions
Soaking the barley
- rinse the barley thoroughly and place it in a jar covered with abundant water. Leave it to soak for one day or even more. You can let it soak up to 3 days, in which case a fermentation will increase its nutritional value.
Barlotto
- Drain the barley grains and place them in a heated pan (with a little olive oil) and stir for about one minute. After this time add the white wine and continue stirring until the wine has evaporated. Add pumpkin (diced and tender), rosemary, salt, and a cup of water. Let simmer while stirring for about 10 minutes. Add the parmesan and whisk until the barlotto results creamy.
Notes
How to cook the pumpkin
First of all, choose a tasty pumpkin like the green Hokkaido quality which also has a perfect consistency.
I prefer to cook it in a pressure pan since is the fastest method and the most energy-efficient one.
I choose a small pumpkin that fits in the pan entirely. After cutting off the stem I put the whole pumpkin – without peeling it- in the pressure pan for about 30 minutes until it is very tender. Then I can easily cut it into small chunks.
You can choose any other method, just be sure that the pumpkin will be tender.
