3shitake or chestnut mushroomsthinly sliced and fried until crispy
12leavessagepicked and deep fried until crispy
6leavesflat leave parsleycut into julienne
500gwild mushroom mix or a mixture of your favourite mushrooms
20gtruffle pasteoptional
20gtruffle butter or unsalted butter
Maldon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Vegetable oilfor frying
Instructions
To cook the pearl barley
To cook the pearl barley take a thicker bottomed pan and heat over a medium heat, once the pan is hot, add the unsalted butter. Once it's melted, add the diced shallot and cook for two to three minutes without colour.
Add the verjus or white wine, deglaze the pan and reduce by 50%, at this point add the pearl barley and stir until the barley has absorbed approximately 90% of the liquid.
Reduce the heat then add the mushroom or the vegetable stock until just covering the barley, stir until the liquid has been absorbed, repeat the process a little at a time until the barley absorbs the stock. You may not need all the stock or you may need a little bit more but the whole process should take 25 to 30 minutes. You want the barley to be al dente once ready, remove and place on a flat tray to cool.
To prepare the crispy mushrooms and sage garnish
Slice your chestnut or shitake mushrooms as thinly as you can, then in a pan with roughly 1cm of hot vegetable oil or similar place the mushrooms into the oil and fry until golden brown. When ready remove and drain on kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil. Follow the same process for the whole sage leaves and set aside until needed.
To serve
In a medium sized pan, add the pre-cooked barley with a little mushroom or vegetable stock and slowly heat through. Right at the end, add the truffle butter or the unsalted butter and season with the salt and pepper.
In a separate pan, add a little olive oil and add the mushroom mix and sauté until cooked, stir in the truffle paste and add salt and pepper to taste.
Take your serving bowls and spoon in the ‘pearl barley risotto’, you will need the pearl barley to be flat, so you are then able to arrange the mushrooms on the top of the risotto in a circle shape, on top of this sprinkle the julienne of flat leaf parsley and scatter the crispy mushrooms and sage leaves, to finish give a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Optional
Finish with shaved truffle or a little drizzle of good quality truffle oil.