Posted by kathryn in Legumes, Dinners, Winter and Recipes

After my weekend cook-fest, I have a fridge and freezer full of ingredients.

Last night, instead of using the roasted pumpkin in a risotto, I decided to combine it with some of the beans and barley.

All the ingredients were cooked, so they just needed to be warmed in a saucepan with a small amount of water.

I then made a quick dressing and dinner was ready in minutes.

Roast pumpkin with white beans and barley

These quantities make three servings – enough for dinner for two and my lunch today.

• 2 cups cooked barley
• 2 cups cooked white beans (you could use a 400g tin of beans)
• Roast pumpkin (I cooked 750g pumpkin with a mixture of coriander seeds, fennel seeds, dried chilli and oregano)
• 1/2 bunch coriander, washed and finely chopped

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon harissa
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 2 tablespoons yoghurt

Heat the barley, beans and pumpkin in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of water. You want the ingredients to warm gently, but not stick to the bottom of the pan.

Make the dressing: While this is heating, put all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.

To finish: Once the barley mixture is heated, add the fresh coriander and dressing and gently stir through to combine. Serve immediately.

Variations

There are many other ways you could serve this meal, depending on what was in your fridge.

• If you didn’t want to make the dressing, serve with ricotta stirred through or fetta crumbled on top.
• If you do want the dressing, but don’t have any harissa, add a teaspoon of mustard.
• Stir through a handful of baby spinach.
• Use mint instead of coriander.
• For the meatlovers, make slightly less and use this as a side dish to some pan-cooked lamb chops. You could rub some harissa over the lamb before cooking.
• Use chick peas instead of white beans.

19 June, 2007