Low Waste, Low Cost: How to make Barley Risotto (Orzotto) with Pumpkin and Rosemary
Think you know Orzo? Think twice: this classic Italian autumn recipe use barley, pumpkin, leek, rosemary and the "risotto technique" to warm up your soul, feel cosy and be respectfully sustainable.
Follow our guide on how to make it for under 5 pounds, how to buy the ingredients with no package and how to dispose them after use.
We have been cooking a lot of Pumpkin in our house this October.
To be fair, we use pumpkin all year around, but during autumn it feels like we are almost forced to use it.
There is pumpkin everywhere, and it's cheap!
One of our favourite recipe to do with pumpkin is to combine with barley and the "risotto technique", to produce what we in Italy (or is it just me?) call "Orzotto", a Barley Risotto.
“Wait a minute, you mean Orzo the type of pasta? How can you make risotto with pasta?”
Well, the truth is, what here in the U.K. is called Orzo (and is even sold by famous Italian brands as such), is not called Orzo in my native country!
That kind of pasta is called Risoni and, I am sorry guys, it is only sold as "orzo" for you foreigners.
In my country, we call "Orzo" the cereal Barley, and we love it. And yes, it can be cooked as risotto.
It is a very ancient grain, consumed in Eurasia since thousands of years ago and is a very familiar product for Italian cuisine. It also contains around 24% proteins, making it a very good product if you are trying to have a diet with more protein intake.
Most supermarket sell Pearl Barley, where the cereal has been processed to remove the bran and the outer layers (full of fibres!).
I have to say, Barley for cooking is not easy to find in London plastic free.
The only supermarket big chain where we found it was M&S, where it cost 75 p for 500g (cheaper than plastic alternatives from Tesco and Asda!)
So we got plastic free barley, a pumpkin, a leek (you guys probably know by now how much I love leek), add a touch of Mediterranean memories using Rosemary and off we go, ready to cook this typical, traditional Italian Autumn recipe, Pumpkin Orzotto!
The recipe
80/100 g of barley per person
1 Leek
1 medium pumpkin or butternut squash
Vegetable cube
Dry rosemary
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
How to get the ingredients low waste/low budget
As far as I can tell, but please comment below if you find otherwise, barley without plastic can be only bought at M&S. In other chain supermarket, it is often in non recyclable bag. If your local zero waste sell it loose, even better!
Pumpkin and Leek can be easily found with no plastic. Make sure to buy dry rosemary in glass jar (yes, you can use fresh rosemary if you are growing some, just make sure you add less as it can be very intense).
We got our products in the M&S in Clapham Junction, which has a very good selection of plastic free and loose products. Here are the prices:
Price breakdown (2 servings)
(200g) Pearl Barley £0.30 (0.75p x 500 g)
(1x) Leek £ 0.60
(1x) Butternut Squash £1 (but vary depending on season)
(1x) Vegetable cube £0.09 (0.90 x 10 cubes)
(1 table spoon) Dried Rosemary 0.3 £ (£3.74 x 22g)
A glass of olive oil (price depending on shop and brand)
Legend: Orange: recyclable Green: zero waste if bought loose Blue: bought in bulk to reuse
Total cost: £ 2.80 for two people!
Final wastage: 1 recyclable paper bag + 1 cube foil (unfortunately not recyclable)
Now let’s cook!
Step 1.
Remove the skin of the pumpkin, the seeds and chop the rest in squares, the smaller the better, as they will cook faster.
Slice the leek, using the usual technique of first slicing the entire stem in two, and then slice each half in little half circles. You can cut the whole leek or, for a softer and faster version, only use the lighter part of the stem.
Step 2.
In a pan add a little glass (or espresso cup) of olive oil and turn the heat on medium.
When the oil is ready (you can pilot by adding a little leek cut), add both the pumpkin and the leek, and stir gently. Now you can add a little bit of water so that the steam will cook the vegetables faster.
Step 3.
Cover the pan, turn the gas to low/medium and let the steam cook the vegetables until they are soft. Check every now and then with a fork to see how are they doing.
Step 4.
Once soft, remove from fire and, using a food processor or blender, blend the vegetable into a thick cream. You can add salt and pepper here if you would like to and always taste with a little spoon as you cook along, that is one of the secrets of home cooking! ;-)
Let the cream sit.
Then add some oil to a tall-ish pot, turn on medium heat and pour in some barley.
Step 5.
Now we need to toast the barley, making it golden, as you would do for normal risotto. To do so, we will make sure to stir gently so that it doesn't stick to the pot and goldens homogenously.
Once golden, add a full cup of boiling water and the vegetable dice/stock. Stir to blend the stock with the water if needed
Step 6.
Add another cup of hot water and start stirring every 3-4 minutes.
Once most of the water has evaporated (but the mix should still be moist), add the pumpkin and leek cream
Step 7.
Add the rosemary (as much as you may like rosemary, the more you add, the less you will taste the pumpkin) and stir to mix the ingredients into an homogenous mix.
Stir the orzotto for around 10 minutes, you can add more stock if you see that is drying out too much
Step 8.
Once it's done, it should really look like a risotto. Always taste to see if the grains have cooked well. You can add some butter if you want to make it creamier (we call the process of adding butter at the end "mantecare"), but you don't have to and if done well you won't even need to.
Step 9.
Once ready, prepare a plate and serve. You can add some additional rosemary, pepper or Parmigiano, if you like. Enjoy this warm, autumn Italian classic!
How to dispose after cooking
Pumpkin and leek can be bought loose, so no waste!
The only paper Barley we found that is in a paper bag is from M&S (well done you guys!) and can be recyclable.
The stock cube and butter packaging (if used) are not recyclable, but there are quite few alternatives that are in recyclable plastic boxes, although a bit more pricey.
As always, for the best low waste result, buy at zero waste shop or market, make the stock yourself and use what you are most comfortable with!
Affordable. Achievable. Southstainable
