Whole Grains

Part of the result of my trip to LA (besides being incredibly envious of the "cold" weather —you have no idea how many people apologized for it being 50 degrees outside) was a re-emergence in the California healthy eating style. Kara and her roommate Alexa are super healthy. They eat yogurt! Whole wheat! Fresh produce! Needless to say, I don't believe they would count hummus a vegetable as I do ("but chickpeas are sort of like vegis, right?").

While hanging out there, I picked up Super Natural Cooking. It's the cookbook by the lovely and talented Heidi, of 101 Cookbooks. It's all about eating well, whole grains, super food, and the whole lot. It's very aspirational, to me, anyway. No where in the book does it give you an allowance for say, a penchant for dirty chais, or a nasty habit of imbibing cheap, midwestern beer. Still, I was willing to take a chance.


I was overly optimistic in my attempt, and thought I had all of the ingredients, when really I had... most. Still, for the most part, it turned out well. A word to the wise: these whole grains FILL YOU UP. As in, after eating this four or five times, there's still a vat of it in my fridge that will probably never be consumed. Alas.

Risotto-Style Barley
Slightly adapted from Super Natural Cooking

Ingredients
3 tbs oive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
2 cups pearl barley
1 cup white wine
6 cups water
1 tangerine
zest of one lemon
3/4 cup grated Parmesean cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese (full fat)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
two big handfuls of baby spinach

Directions

Heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onions, garlic and salt, stirring until onion begins to soften.

Add the barley and stir until it's coated with a "nice sheen." Add the white wine and simmer until it's liquid has been absorbed by the barley. Cup by cup, add the water. After each cup, the barley should absorb the liquid before the next cup is added. This part of the recipe will take about 40 minutes.

Zest the tangerine, and then peel and segment it, and cut the segments into small pieces. When all the water has been absorbed, toss in the tangerine and lemon zest, segments, cheese, and cottage cheese. Stir in the spinach, and finish off with the toasted walnuts.