Sometimes I screw up like last night, I bought these beautiful zucchini flowers and didn’t know what to do with them. Deep-frying them was out of the question. I have a deep fry phobia. First because I can see all the fat going strait to my midsection, second, the view of a pan full of hot, hot, oil give me the creeps. So … what to do?

After “googleling “ for some ideas with no success, I decided to roast them in the oven instead.

That’s my favorite way of cooking vegetables; I have this amazing Mario Batali lasagna pan, which I absolutely love. I roast almost every kind of veggies in it. And it taste fabulous. I stuffed the zucchinis flower with a mix of goat cheese, mint, and parsley and put in the tray with salt and pepper and shaved garlic. To accompany it I would make a simple risotto; everything was wonderful until I realized that I didn’t have the rice. So I came to the living room with a glass of wine and told my husband:

Me – How do you feel about stuffed zucchinis flower and pizza?

Husband – Are you going to make pizza? (With his eyes shining like a kid)

Me – Noooooooo, We are going to order one.

Husband – what happened to the risotto and everything? (His expression was pure terror; delivery around here is somehow pitiful).

Me – We don’t have the rice.

Husband – what about that little talk we had about not been so spontaneous all the time?

Me – well, am I going to hear that speech again?

Husband – I think you will, until you worm up to some planning.

He is totally right, I absolutely hate planning anything, and I like to decide things on the fly.

Of course because of that we almost every weekend have to doom big lines at restaurants. Because I don’t like to plan ahead. And then while he was bla… bla… bla… bla… bla, my brain was looking desperately for alternatives to the rice. I Went back to the kitchen and started to look everywhere, and then…Voila!! Barley…. So I scream to him, BARLEY, I’m using BARLEY, and I could hear his sigh of relief, after all he wouldn’t have to eat some cardboard tasting pizza from around the corner.

Barley Risotto

• 3/4 cup minced onions
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cups vegetable stock or water
• 1 1/2 cups pearl barley

• 1/4 cup dry white wine

• 1 cup grated Parmeggiano cheese

 Preparation:

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the garlic and onions and cook them for 2 minutes over medium high heat.

2. Add the pearl barley and cook it for 5 minutes to slightly toast the grains. Add the white wine and cook for a minute then add 3 cups of the stock or water, and some salt. Bring the barley to a boil then cover and reduce the heat to medium. Cook the barley 25 minutes.

3. The remaining stock or water. Cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the cheese and correct the seasonings 

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