Think you know Orzo? Think twice: this classic italian autumn recipe use barley, pumpkin, leek, rosemary and the “risotto technique” to warm up your soul, feel cozy and be respectfully sustainable.
Follow our guide on how to make it for under 5 pounds, how to buy the ingredients with no package and how to dispose them after use.
We have been cooking a lot of Pumpkin in our house this October.
To be fair, we use pumpkin all year around, but during autumn it feels like we are almost forced to use it.
There is pumpkin everywhere, and it’s cheap!
One of our favourite recipe to do with pumpkin is to combine with barley and the “risotto technique”, to produce what we in italy (or is it just me?) call “Orzotto”, a Barley Risotto.
Wait a minute, you mean Orzo the type of pasta? How can you make risotto with pasta?
Well, the truth is, what here in the U.K. is called Orzo (and is even sold by famous Italian brands as such), is not called Orzo in my native country!
That kind of pasta is called Risoni and, I am sorry guys, it is only sold as “orzo” for you foreigners.
In my country, we call “Orzo” the cereal Barley, and we love it. And yes, it can be cooked as risotto.
It is a very ancient grain, consumed in Eurasia since thousands of years ago and is a very familiar product for Italian cuisine. It also contains around 24% proteins, making it a very good product if you are trying to have a diet with more protein intake.
Most supermarket sell Pearl Barley, where the cereal has been processed to remove the bran and the outer layers (full of fibres!).
I have to say, Barley for cooking is not easy to find in London plastic free.
The only supermarket big chain where we found it was M&S, where it cost 75 p for 500g (cheaper than plastic alternatives from Tesco and Asda!)
So we got plastic free barley, a pumpkin, a leek (you guys probably know by now how much I love leek), add a touch of Mediterranean memories using Rosemary and off we go, ready to cook this typical, traditional Italian Autumn recipe, Pumpkin Orzotto!
The recipe
80/100 g of barley per person
1 Leek
1 medium pumpkin or butternut squash
Vegetable cube
Dry rosemary
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
How to get the ingredients low waste/low budget
As far as I can tell, but please comment below if you find otherwise, barley without plastic can be only bought at M&S. In other chain supermarket, it is often in non recyclable bag. If your local zero waste sell it loose, even better!
Pumpkin and Leek can be easily found with no plastic. Make sure to buy dry rosemary in glass jar (yes, you can use fresh rosemary if you are growing some, just make sure you add less as it can be very intense).
We got our products in the M&S in Clapham Junction, which has a very good selection of plastic free and loose products. Here are the prices
Price breakdown (2 servings)
(200g) Pearl Barley £0.30 (0.75p x 500 g)
(1x) Leek £ 0.60
(1x) Butternut Squash £1 (but vary depending on season)
(1x) Vegetable cube £0.09 (0.90 x 10 cubes)
(1 table spoon) Dried Rosemary 0.3 £ (£3.74 x 22g)
A glass of olive oil (price depending on shop and brand)
Legend: Orange: recyclable Green: zero waste if bought loose Blue: bought in bulk to reuse
Total cost: £ 2.80 for two people!
Final wastage: 1 recyclable paper bag + 1 cube foil (unfortunately not recyclable)
Now let’s cook!
Step 1.
Remove the skin of the pumpkin, the seeds and chop the rest in squares, the smaller the better, as they will cook faster
Step 2.
Slice the leek, using the usual technique of first slicing the entire stem in two, and then slice each half in little half circles. You can cut the whole leek or, for a softer and faster version, only use the lighter part of the stem.
Step 3.
In a pan add a little glass (or espresso cup) of olive oil and turn the heat on medium.
Step 4.
When the oil is ready (you can pilot by adding a little leek cut), add both the pumpkin and the leek, and stir gently. Now you can add a little bit of water so that the steam will cook the vegetables faster.
Step 5.
Cover the pan, turn the gas to low/medium and let the steam cook the vegetables until they are soft. Check every now and then with a fork to see how are they doing.
Step 6.
Once soft, remove from fire and, using a food processor or blender, blend the vegetable into a thick cream. You can add salt and pepper here if you would like to and always taste with a little spoon as you cook along, that is one of the secrets of home cooking! 😉
Let the cream sit.
Step 7.
Add some oil to a tall-ish pot, turn on medium heat and pour in some barley.
Step8.
Now we need to toast the barley, making it golden, as you would do for normal risotto. To do so, we will make sure to stir gently so that it doesn’t stick to the pot and goldens homogenously.
Step 9.
Once golden, add a full cup of boiling water and the vegetable dice/stock. Stir to blend the stock with the water if needed
Step 10.
Add another cup of hot water and start stirring every 3-4 minutes.
Step 11.
Once most of the water has evaporated (but the mix should still be moist), add the pumpkin and leek cream
Step 12.
Add the rosemary (as much as you may like rosemary, the more you add, the less you will taste the pumpkin) and stir to mix the ingredients into an homogenous mix.
Step 13.
Stir the orzotto for around 10 minutes, you can add more stock if you see that is drying out too much
Step 14.
Once it’s done, it should really look like a risotto. Always taste to see if the grains have cooked well. You can add some butter if you want to make it creamier (we call the process of adding butter at the end “mantecare”), but you don’t have to and if done well you won’t even need to.
Step 15.
Once ready, prepare a plate and serve. You can add some additional rosemary, pepper or Parmigiano, if you like. Enjoy this warm, autumn Italian classic!
How to dispose after cooking
Pumpkin and leek can be bought loose, so no waste!
The only paper Barley we found that is in a paper bag is from M&S (well done you guys!) and can be recyclable.
The stock cube and butter peel are not recyclable, but there are quite few alternatives that are in recyclable plastic boxes, although a bit more pricey.
As always, for the best low waste result, buy at zero waste shop or market, make the stock yourself and use what you are most comfortable with!
This traditional Italian housewarming classic has all the features of a perfectly sustainable dish: vegetarian, low waste and low cost.
Follow our guide on how to make it for under 5 pounds, how to buy the ingredients with no package and to how to dispose them after use.
Ah, Italian food…pizza, pasta, mozzarella, gnocchi, lasagne, everybody loves it!
But if you have ever spent some times with an Italian person, you would have noticed that we often point out that Risotto is one of the most “feels like home again” food.
Don’t get me wrong, we do like pasta and pizza, but the process of slowly making risotto, seeing the creaminess create, seeing the ingredients all mixing together slowly, while gentle stirring them…priceless and really home feeling.
There are A LOT of risotto recipes and Italy has such wide regional diversity in term of cuisines that makes it difficult to pinpoint where specific risotto recipes originated from (apart from some classic such as Risotto alla Milanese – with saffron and bone marrow – and other few exceptions).
Risotto is made, traditionally, with varieties of rice that comes from the north west side of Italy, now cultivated nationwide and in many parts of the world.
Carnaroli, Arboreo and Roma are the most used varieties and can be found in most U.K. Supermarkets.
We use those kinds of rice varieties instead of the long grain ones (jasmine or basmati) because they remain harder and don’t overcook easily. Risotto is not a soup and you do need to feel a little bit of crunchiness.
Today we are going to explore how to make one of Marco’s favourite, using simple greens like spinach and leek.
This would typically be a dish from (but not exclusively) the North of Italy, where there is a more warm, earthy cooking style.
Spinach is available all year around, but is really abundant from late summer and early autumn.
Leek is also a very common vegetable, growing for most of the year.
The rest of the ingredients are staples in everyone’s household: butter, salt, pepper, vegetable cube.
Easy, tasty and, of course, almost zero waste!
The recipe
100g of risotto rice per person
1 Leek
1 Bag of (or bunch) baby spinach or normal spinach
Vegetable cube
Salt
Pepper
Butter for cooking (can be substituted with veggie spread)
Little note: in Italy we measure the portion for risotto in “fists”, taking a fist of rice per person +1 (e.g. 2 people +3 fists).
I invite you to have fun and try, or you can use a scale and measure around 80/100g per person.
How to get the ingredients low waste/low budget
All of the ingredients can be easily found with almost no waste in local markets and big chain shops.
Traditionally, Risotto is cooked with stock prepared before, using carrots, onions and celery, but for a quicker version we used vegetable cube (although, if you really want to go zero waste, home made stock is the way!)
Risotto is usually sold in a cardboard box (like here) but often there is plastic inside (sneaky!). Otherwise you can buy risotto rice from a zero waste shop.
This time we have sourced our ingredients from the Tesco extra in Streatham which didn’t have spinach with no plastic, but those can easily be found in local markets (price check: two bunch of loose spinach for £1.50 at Brixton Market).
Price breakdown (2 servings)
(1x) Bag of Spinach £1.2
(200g) Risotto Carnaroli GALLO £ 1.10 (2.75 x 500 g)
(1x) Leek £ 0.60
(60g) Butter £0.42 (1.79 x 250g)
(1x) Vegetable cube £0.09 (0.90 x 10 cubes)
Legend: Orange: recyclable Green: zero waste if bought loose Blue: bought in bulk to reuse
Total cost: £ 3.41 for two people!
Final wastage: 1 recyclable plastic spinach bag + 1 cube foil (unfortunately not recyclable)
Now let’s cook!
Step 1.
Wash the spinach and the leek
Cut all the leak, including the green part. I love it as it gives an interesting texture because it stays a bit firm even when cooked. If you want, you can keep the base of the leek for regrowing (more on this soon)
That’s the only preparation needed before starting cooking!
Step 2.
Add half the butter/vegetable spread to pot and turn on medium heat.
When you start hearing bubbling, add the risotto rice. I know it seems a bit counterintuitive to add the rice first, but that is an important operation. We need to toast the rice so that it stays firm during the long cooking time of the risotto. Pay attention to not let it burn: it needs to turn golden but not brown (in Italian we say “indorare”:: to make it golden).
Step 3.
Once the rice is golden, you can add the (washed) spinach and leek.
Stir firmly to mix the ingredients.
Some people will put a bit of white wine at this point, to saute the mix and add a bit of flavour, but you don’t need to if this is not your vibe or you don’t want/can’t use alchool.
Step 4.
This is an important operation: now we need to add the stock (or cube = hot water) to the mix but we need to make sure that it is just about enough to cover the rice and vegetable. Too few and we risk burning, too much and we are creating a soup.
Step 5.
Now, we need to keep eyes, ears and tongue focussed on our risotto.
You need to see that the level of stock is going down and refill (with the same principle of step 4) if it is going down to much.
Meantime, our ears are making sure the risotto is bubbling (yes, you need to hear it… for me, is the sound of home and family and cozy evenings).
Our tongue is in charge of deciding if the grains are cooking well or not by try a bunch of them every now and then.
Step 6.
When our tongue decide that the rice is getting “al dente” cruncy but soft at the same time, we will stop adding any stock and let it evaporate. You will notice that, thanks to that, a cream of starch has formed, making the risotto creamy.
DO NOT add cream or other type of liquid milky thing to your risotto: you will make an entire nation upset (and you will spoil the texture of your risotto)!
Step 7.
Serve on a plate, add some parmigiano if you want and enjoy with family and friend for warm embrace. The favour should be delicate, smooth and uplifting, like home.
How to dispose after cooking
The spinach plastic bag can be recycle.
Check the bag of risotto rice, sometimes the hidden plastic is not even recyclable (aaarghh!)
The stock cube and butter peel are not recyclable, but there are quite few alternatives that are in recyclable plastic boxes, although a bit more pricey.
For the best low waste result, buy at zero waste shop and make the stock yourself!
Follow our guide on to how to cook this traditional Carribean comfort food for under 5 pounds, from how to buy the ingredients to how to dispose them for almost no waste.
Welcome to our Southstainable Kitchen, where we share our low waste, low budget yet traditional family recipes.
Here at Southstainable Kitchen we are committed to show you affordable and accessible recipes that enable you to join the sustainability journey without sacrificing the pleasures and traditions you are accustomed to.
For every recipe we will show you not just how to make the dish but also how/where we bought the ingredient affordably and sustainably, and how to dispose of any wastage after cooking, for a practical, easy and inclusive sustainable kitchen.
Trinidadian Fish (Salmon) Choka
Today we are sharing traditional Trinidadian Fish Choka, a very personal recipe for our team member Elizabeth. Elizabeth was taught how to make this by her family, and is sharing her adapted version of that family recipe, using salmon.
Traditionally, Salmon Choka is a poor man’s dish in Trinidadian culture, usually prepared using whatever the fisherman had to spare and give away. Usually roasted or grilled and then transformed into “flakes” and mixed with other basic fresh ingredients like tomatoes, shallot, onion, are fresh and tasty recipes that can be prepared in no time.
And we do eat a lot of Choka in our sustainable kitchen!
The recipe
1 can of salmon
1 scallion (green onion)
1 brown/yellow onion
1 bunch of spinach
Half of a lemon
3-4 cloves of garlic
2 small tomatoes
3-4 sprigs of coriander
Basil
Oregano
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Vegetable oil
Red chilli flakes (optional)
Although it’s not the dish prepared precisely in the traditional way, it is the way suited to our lifestyle here in London and our personal taste.
Measurements will be included, but the Caribbean way to cook is to measure with your heart. So, please take note of this throughout the recipe and most importantly, have fun!
How to get the ingredients low waste/low budget
All of the ingredients can be easily found with almost no waste in local markets and big chain shops. Many shops sell these veggies with no plastic and the salmon is in an aluminium can. As an example, this specific time we have sourced our ingredients from the Tesco extra in Streatham which didn’t have spinach with no plastic, but those can easily be found in local markets (price check: two bunch of loose spinach for £1.50 at Brixton Market)
Price breakdown (2 servings)
(1x) Canned salmon £1.7
(1x) Green onion bunch £0.5
(2x) Yellow/brown onions £0.61
(1x) Jasmine rice £1.73
(1x) Spinach £1.2
(1x) Lemon £0.3
(1x) Garlic £0.55
(2x) Tomatoes £0.36
(1x) Coriander pot £1.5
Legend: Orange: recyclable Green: zero waste if bought loose Blue: bought in bulk to reuse
Total cost: £9.30
£4.65 per serving, but the rice and the coriander plant can be reused for many other dishes, so the total cost is actually probably around 3.5/4 pounds
Final wastage: 1 recyclable aluminium can, 1 recyclable plastic spinach bag + vegetable peels
Now let’s cook!
Step 1. Dice 1 yellow onion and 2 tomatoes.
Cut 1 scallion and mince 3-4 cloves of garlic.
Set aside the green ends of the scallion for garnish.
Step 2. Add vegetable oil to a cast iron pan and turn on medium heat.
Step 3. Add garlic and saute for 60 seconds.
Step 4. Add all vegetables and saute. Add one pinch of salt, and 1 teaspoon each of basil, oregano, thyme, and pepper.
Step 5. Drain one can of salmon halfway. Add to the pan and saute. Add additional oil at this point if the mixture begins drying out.
Step 6. Add one bunch of spinach and 1/4 cup of water. Lower heat and cover the pan. Allow to steam for 4-5 more minutes.
Step 7. Remove the pan from heat and plate. Squeeze ½ of a lemon into the dish and garnish with green onion, coriander, and red pepper flakes. Serve with rice and enjoy!
How to dispose after cooking
Since there is almost no wastage (and that is the point, right?), the only thing we need to do is to wash the can thoroughly and to compost the vegetable peels!
