Spinach Barley Risotto

Well I thought I'd give the resourceful cook website another go so this time I went for the Spinach Barley Risotto. I love risotto, I know it can be a bit time consuming but it's not complex so it's great for those evenings when you really can't face anything too complicated! Usually my risottos have anything thrown into them I have handy, leeks, mushrooms, courgettes, and are made with the usual arborio rice. I have strangely (considering my love of it) never used spinach in one before and I didn't realise that pearl barley, as used in this recipe, could be used in place of the aborio.

The portion size wasn't huge but probably about right. I loved the spinach in it and the flavours were all really good. Not sure about the pearl barley though, I think I would prefer to use the aborio if I did the recipe again. The barley seems to take longer to cook and felt a little bit like hard work to eat even once cooked. The rest of the flavours were good though so overall a good, simple recipe from the resourceful cook and I only had to buy the barley as I had everything else in stock!