Pearl barley, butternut squash and sage risotto

Delicious, sweet taste from the butternut. I added a handful of baby spinach leaves at the end.

A relatively simple dish that takes quite a bit of time to prepare. In the winter months I cook a lot of squash so this barley risotto caught my eye. Total time was just over and hour, 35-min plus for my barley to soften. Next time I may add some mushroom to mix it up. Tips: 1. If you’d like some of your squash orange at the end like the recipe photo I suggest adding half at the start and the remain half way thought your barleys 30-mins. 2. Really let the barley roast for a bit before adding liquid. I felt like it really added a great nutty ness to the dish (Dutch oven users only please).

Other than a little time consuming, I would definitely keep this in my cooking repertoire. I found it a little salty, but that's probably down to the stock that I used. I will absolutely be making this again over the winter months

This is so delicious! It’s not super quick, but not bad time-wise, maybe about an hour total. Quicker if you buy pre-cubed squash. I followed the recipe (I usually don’t) and I don’t feel like I need to change anything. It ended up sweeter than I expected, which must be from the squash. Served it with a baby spinach/walnut/Granny Smith apple salad with a light vinaigrette dressing. Would be good with some toasted, buttery, chunky, artisan or rustic bread.

4/5

Added 125ml dry white wine with the stock. Also substituted olive oil for the butter. Added 100g baby spinach at the end with half a cup of Parmesan. From starting to add the liquid it took about 45 minutes and an extra cup of stock to get the pearl barley to the right texture. Everyone loved it!

Think squash would taste better roasted and added to risotto at the end. Added some Gran Padano shavings at the end. Loved the pearl barley.

Prepared with risotto. Added habanero and parmesan. Easy and tasty.

The most difficult thing about this meal was preparing the squash. After that it's a simple meal and tastes delicious. As a stand alone meal I'd say it makes three portions rather than four, but with a piece of fish or chicken it'll feed four perfectly.

I made it with dried sage and skipped the last portion of the butter. I loved it, family not so much. It needs constant attention, but was worth it.

It absolutely turned out delicious. Used Arborio rice instead of pearl barley.

I used dried sage and chicken broth