Italian Orzotto – Pearl Barley with Veggies
Orzotto is a typical first course made with pearl barley and with different veggies and variants around Italy.
Everyone has a recipe for it with different flavors, it’s like a risotto but with pearl barley.
Mine is quite colorful and has a strong taste thanks to yellow pepper and zucchini.
Initially, there was a red pepper in the recipe too but later on, meal after meal, I remove it because I thought that the overall flavor was too strong and it wasn’t pleasant anymore.
So let’s get started with the ingredients and then let’s cooked some pearl barley. It’s an easy recipe so don’t worry even if you have never cooked in your life.
Ingredients for 2 people:
150g Pearl barley
150g Zucchini
150g Yellow pepper
500-600ml Water
1 Vegetable Cube
q.s Onion
q.s. Salt
q.s. Pepper
q.s. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Preparing broth
Add 500-600ml of water in a saucepan with ¾ vegetable cube, put aside the ¼ remained for later. Put the saucepan at medium-high heat and leave it there until boiling.
Cut the veggies
Wash and clean the veggies by removing the skin of zucchini and the white part in the yellow pepper. Now cut the vegetables into small cubes and assemble the two together. Time for the onion, I usually add only a slice of onion to everything just to add a little bit of flavor. Cut the amount of onion you like into little slices and add it to the mix.
Cooking time
At this point, the broth we made before should be boiling, if not turn up the heat to high and turn it off when boiling.
Pick a saute pan or skillet with a lid, put it on medium heat with a big drop of olive oil.
Add the veggies to the skillet and garnish with a pinch of salt and q.s. pepper
Put the lid on and leave it there for 2 minutes, then open the lid and add the ¼ vegetable cube we set aside before and leave it there with the lid close while we go to prepare the pearl barley.
Adding pearl barley
Wash the pearl barley under running water and add it to the skillet.
Now add about four solid spoons of broth into the skillet, and put the lid on again.
To be ready pearl barley takes about 20 minutes, add two solid spoons at a time as soon as you see the liquid get dry during this 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes it should be soft enough but not overcooked and the liquid should be minimum.
Enjoy it
Serve on a soup plate and enjoy your meal.
Extras
You can add pretty much every vegetable you want, some people add pumpkin, others eggplants, some even mushrooms.
Don’t leave the pearl barley alone while cooking because if it gets too dry it will burn itself and taste horrible.
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Timestamps:
0:00 – 0:10 Introduction
0:11 – 0:29 Preparing broth
0:30 – 3:31 Cut the veggies
3:32 – 4:55 Cooking time
4:56 – 7:14 Adding pearl barley
7:15 – 7:40 Enjoy it