Recipe 15: Back after a long time away with home grown beans, pearl barley and Sockeye salmon!

I know. I know. It’s been a while. I don’t know why I haven’t bothered updating this blog in any real way since I got to Canada. I suppose that the main reason is that when I was working a full time 9-5 I was bored. I needed something to divert my attention from the relentless image requests from those pesky TV companies and newspapers. Like many bloggers I focused at least 50% of my day on the blog in an attempt to preserve my sanity.

Since I have got to the west coast of Canada I have had so much time on my hands that for some reason I haven’t had time to be bored?! Anyway, after returning to the UK for a couple of weeks over the summer many (a few… well a couple) of my friends asked where the blog had gone. Well it hasn’t gone anywhere, and here is the latest installment. Fingers crossed that I’ll manage to keep this going over the next year.

The following recipe was inspired by the veg I found in my garden (runner beans), food I found in my cupboard (pearl barley) and some amazing home canned freshly caught Sockeye salmon gifted to me by my SENCOTEN language tutor, Helen Jack.

Sockeye salmon and runner bean pearl barley risotto

Served 1 (or 2 smaller portions)

Ingredients:

Home canned Sockeye salmon (if you can’t get hold of this then any salmon will be fine. The Sockeye is cooked in the can, really a jar, and its juices thicken and break down some of the flesh into a beautiful sweet mush. It still has small bones so these need to be picked out, but it is an amazing and highly traditional way to preserve the fish for later use. If you do use salmon fillets then cook it slightly first then crumble into the risotto at the end of the cooking process to warm it through and ensure it is cook through. If you are using shop bought salmon, which is very different from Canadian made canned salmon, then just add this at the end of the cooking process in a similar way).

A good handful of runner beans, trimmed of the ends and cut length ways into thin strips.

1 good serving of pearl barley

½ red onion, diced

1 clove of garlic chopped and minced

Chicken, fish or veg stock (I used a good quality concentrated canned liquid stock that can be kept in the fridge after opening. Try not to use a stock cube, but I suppose it might work at a stretch. The only real issue is that they are packed full of salt and don’t taste that good. If you do use a stock cube, do not add anymore salt during cooking.)

Olive oil

Seasoning to taste

Method:

1. Mix up your stock with boiling water. Keep a pan full of stock on the hob within easy reach of the main saucepan so you can constantly add stock when needed.

2. Add olive oil to a large, deep frying pan and bring to temperature. Add the garlic and red onion and reduce the heat by half immediately. Allow the onion and garlic to soften for a few minutes. If you have diced them small enough this shouldn’t take too long.

3. Add more oil if the onion and garlic mix has soaked it all up and add the pearl barley. Make sure you mix this thoroughly so that the pearl barley is soaked in oil.

4. Cook the pearl barley through for a few minutes and then add a small amount of stock. Continue to add stock as it is soaked into the pearl barley and the grains become fat and soaked with the liquidy goodness. The best part of this is that the pearl barley will expand to a succulent, tender grain once cooked (about 15-20mins in my experience), the reduced stock also takes on a great sweetness when combined with the onions and garlic too.

5. In the meantime take the sliced beans and add to a pan of boiling water. Cook these through so that they are just blanched, you will finish cooking them through after adding them to the pearl barley risotto.

6. Drain the beans and add any left over boiling water to the risotto pan, this will allow some of the great bean flavours soak into the final dish.

7. Prep the Salmon and pull into smallish pieces (rough 1cm cubes).

8. Once the risotto looks just about ready (again, once the pearl barley has plumped right up. You can check the texture by tasting a small amount), add the beans and make sure that there is enough moisture in the pan to continue to cook the risotto mix until the beans are thoroughly cooked, but retain a certain al dente texture.

9. Add the prepped salmon and mix the whole dish until all the parts are combined. Check for seasoning and adjust as required.

10.  Serve on a plate or bowl, depending on how soupy you like it and eat!

This is one of those amazing, simple dishes that once I had the first bite in my mouth oozed with sweet bean, salmon flavours and a lovely texture from the pearl barley. It’s cheap too!

I really like to pick the beans a little bit later than is normally advised as you get to crunch down on those sweet orbs of meatiness held inside the sometimes tough pods. Because they are a bit older than the tender beans that could have been picked a week or two before, I would suggest that you slice them as finely as you can, a bean slicer/julienner is a good tool for this.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this simple recipe and like the photos (sorry, I was half way through the meal before I decided to document it!).

Keep your eyes open for further posts, including news and views on local Victoria food.

Thanks for reading.

The Epicurean Candidate

Sockeye salmon and runner bean, pearl barley risotto

A half eaten plate of Sockeye salmon and runner bean, pearl barley risotto

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~ by theepicureancandidate on September 14, 2010.