Risotto is a traditional Italian creamy rice dish made with short-grain rice, gently cooked in butter or olive oil. It is a hearty, healthy Mediterranean type of food, cooked with broth and a mixture of healthy vegetables and herbs, such as sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh flat-leaf parsley. Its characteristic creamy consistency is achieved by adding small amounts of broth to the rice and stirring almost constantly, to help release the starch from the rice to thicken the broth. Here is one possible risotto recipe in which the rice has been replaced with barley. When cooked slowly, barley takes on a creamy texture like that of the short-grain rice used in Italian risottos and provides a lot more fiber than the rice.

What you need:

10 large plum (Roma) tomatoes, peeled and each cut into 4 wedges
2 cups pearl barley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cups vegetable stock or broth
3 cups water
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 shallots, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, plus whole leaves for garnish
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

How you do it:

First of all, preheat the oven to 450 F and arrange the chopped tomatoes on a nonstick baking sheet. Pour 1 tablespoon of the olive oil on top of them and add a little salt and pepper as well, and mix gently before roasting them in the oven until they soften and begin to turn brown. Set them aside to cool.

In a saucepan, boil the combined water and vegetable stock over high heat, then lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer. In a separate, heavy saucepan, heat the remaining olive oil, then add the copped shallots and fry them gently for a few minutes. Blend in the wine and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Then stir in the barley and cook it for one minute.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock mixture and again, cook it until almost all the liquid has evaporated or has been absorbed, stirring frequently. Add the rest of the stock mixture in 1/2 cup increments, each time stirring and allowing the mixture to cook and the liquid to be absorbed until adding more stock. The barley will be tender after about 50 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the roasted tomatoes, thyme, chopped basil, grated cheese and parsley. Finally, add the remaining salt and pepper and stir gently. Serve immediately, topped with more Parmesan cheese, fresh tomatoes and whole basil leaves.

Nutritional Information per serving

Calories - 285
Monounsaturated fat - 4 g
Protein - 9 g
Cholesterol - 6 mg
Carbohydrate - 46 g
Total fat - 8 g (out of which 2 g saturated fat)
Fiber - 9 g