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Roast Chicken and Leek Pearl Barley Risotto

If you are following this site regularly you may notice the link to the last video in the use of leeks. We are getting closer to the winter months and this is one of the vegetables that really hits it's strides over winter so I wanted to get a few recipes out there to really show it off.

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This dish came about through the covid lockdown when we were getting boxes of veg delivered and leeks were always included. Add to that all the rice being gone from my local supermarket and I started experimenting with Pearl Barley. The result was a lovely earthy dish that I knew right away was a winner for the winter. This uses the same rub for the chicken I used in my Individual Chicken Roast which gives you an idea of how we can use the same basic ingredients but make an entirely new dish.

Ingredients

Serves 2

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Chicken rub

  • 2 chicken thighs

  • 1/2 tsp fennel seeds

  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

  • 1/2 tsp garlic granules

  • 1 tsp dried thyme

  • pinch of salt

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Risotto

  • 2 medium leeks, 500g total

  • 100g pearl barley

  • 150ml white wine

  • 1 tsp wholegrain mustard

  • 500ml vegetable stock

  • leaves of 3 small sprigs of tarragon

  • 15g butter

  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Method

First off you want to give your pearl barley a bit of a wash in cold water then drain and leave to the side while you prep the chicken. To do that just combine all the herbs and spices for the rub with a pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar and grind down to a powder. Now slice the top of the thighs three times and coat them all over with the rub and put to the side with the barley. Just a bit of chopping now and you can start cooking.

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Slice the leeks into 1/2cm rounds then pull off the tarragon leaves and give them a rough chop up. No need to go too small here as the flavour will get out whilst it cooks and it always looks a bit better if they aren't even.

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That's all the prep done so now we need to melt the butter with the olive oil in a large saucepan. The two are mixed as the oil will stop the butter from browning but still give the risotto that silky feel. Once it's melted add in the leeks and cook them on a low heat for ten minutes until they have softened down.

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At this point turn on the oven to 180c or 360f so it'll be ready when the chicken needs to go in

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Next we add in the pearl barley, mustard and tarragon and stir until it's all combined in the leeks. Now pour in the white wine and turn up the heat a little to reduce it down until it is almost gone and has a gravy like consistency, which will just take a couple of minutes.

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Add in about a third of the stock to the risotto and put the lid on, bringing it to a simmer. After 5 mins your oven should be up to temp so now put the chicken on a baking tray and whack it in the oven. We are going to cook these for 30 mins but if you are using breast meat you may want to delay another 5 mins as they won't take quite as long.

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So now everything is doing all we need to do is let it cook for the next 25 mins. Come back to the risotto every couple of minutes and give it a stir, adding more stock as necessary. You'll need to add the stock every ten minutes or so, when you are stirring and it feels like it's drying out just put a bit more in, about a third each time.

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After 25 mins have a look at the risotto, it should be a little wet still so remove the lid for the last 5 minutes just to let it reduce down a bit more.

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Once that last 5 mins is through the chicken should be perfect and the risotto at the right consistency. So take your chicken out put half the risotto in a bowl and lay the chicken on top.

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That's it, all done

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