My Attempt at Gourmet Cooking

It is a commom misconception that if you go vegetarian, or especially vegan, you will have to exist on boring meals and never again enjoy gourmet food, especially in a restaurant. My visit this summer to a restaurant in Collingwood (3 Guys and a stove) proves that thought to be a complete fallacy.

I was thrilled to discover that all the pasta and rice dishes automatically came vegetarian and you had to order extra to make it otherwise. My choice of meal was the Barley Cranberry Risotto, which was nothing short of amazing.

As I was aware that the creator of the menu has his own cooking show, I decided to visit his website to see if he had the recipe posted. To my luck, he had  posted the barley risotto recipe. So, you might think that I excitedly rushed to the store to buy the ingredients and get going right away to recreate my favourite dish. Wrong. The old fear of failing came right back and I have waited over a month to attempt it.

I finally did  get around to making it last night and it really was not that hard. As you have to prepare a few of the ingredients in advance, this dish takes patience, which is a virtue that I have yet to master. While it was not quite as good as the restaurant chef's version, I do realize that I am an amateur and am pleased with the result. It was worth the effort.

**I should mention, this recipe suggests to add "any vegtable you have in the fridge". I will advise you to leave celery off the list. I used celery and it does throw off the flavour of the dish. My heart did fall when I initially tasted my experiment, but once I realized it was the celery that I didn't like, I picked it out and now I can't wait to eat it for lunch. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did.

Barley Risotto

 1 cup black beans
1/2 clove minced garlic
1tsp basil
1 tbsp charmoula  (see recipe below)
8 oz vegtable stock
4 tbsp parmesan cheese (vegans can use vegan paremsan-or it can be left out)
pepper to taste
2.5 cups prepared barley *
1oz oil
4 oz sundried cranberries
1 tomato diced
4 tbsp hot sauce-or to taste
4 stems cilantro
2 cups mixed vegtables (green onions, red or yellow peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant, or what you have in fridge)

Optional: 4 oz pecans

Heat large frying pan; add oil, garlic, herbs and vegtables. Saute on high until vegtables are browned. Add black beans, veg. stock, charmoula and cranberries; reduce heat-allowing mixture to come to a simmer.  Add barley and reduce stock by setting stove on medium heat, stirring occasionally.

When the greater part of stock has reduced, stir and add parmesan cheese. Place in a serving bowl and sprnkle with hot sauce and pecans, if desired.
Garnish with extra cilantro.

* Barley: precook 3 cups water to 1 cup barley, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until liquid absorbed

Charmoula

6 tbsp garlic,  2 tsp cumin, 2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne,  1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup chopepd fresh parsley,  1/2 cup chopped cilantro
6 tbsp lemon juice,  4 tsp oil

Place all ingredients in food processor, pulsing until you have a soft, choppy mixture.  (Makes 2.3 cup, you can freeze unused portion and use another time.)