Roast tomato, cavolo nero and pearl barley stew

This souped-up stew is great comfort food.

Roast tomato, cavolo nero and pearl barley stew Credit: Freshly Picked with Simon Toohey

• serves

  6

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  45 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1½ tbsp (30 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 4 large ripe tomatoes
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 1 stick celery, roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• ½ cup pearl barley (soak overnight to speed up cooking time)
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch cavolo nero
• 1.5 litres vegetable stock
• 2 yellow squash, chopped into rough segments
• 1 bunch rainbow chard, one leaf reserved for garnish, remainder de-stemmed and roughly chopped (reserve stems for garnish)
• 100 g fresh peas
• 1-2 tsp sugar, optional
• Crusty bread, to serve 

Green Sauce

• 1 bunch basil
• 1 bunch parsley
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• ½ garlic clove
• 2 tbsp (40 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. In a large heavy cast iron pan on high heat, add the olive oil and the tomatoes and allow to blister like crazy. Keep cooking and cooking until they darken on the skin, split and start to break down. Turn the heat down if the oil really starts smoking. This should take approximately 10 minutes.
2. Turn the heat to a medium and add the onion, celery and carrot, cooking for another 5 minutes or until the onion turns translucent. Add the pearl barley and cook for 1 minute. Add garlic and cavolo nero, it might seem like a lot, but these leaves will wilt down to nothing. Add 1 litre of vegetable stock, reserving the remaining half a litre, then add salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to medium-low and slowly cook away for 10 minutes. The idea is to have the leaves break down and then soak up all the flavour. Cook for a further 20 minutes.
3. In the meantime, in a blender or mortar and pestle add the leaves of the basil and parsley, zest and juice of half a lemon, garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Blitz until it comes together.
4. Finally, with 10 minutes to cook, take the lid off and add the zucchini/squash and rainbow chard, stirring on occasion to make sure everything is cooked. Stir the peas through at the end and turn the heat off; they will cook in the residual heat. Taste the stew and check the seasoning, it may need a little more salt and possibly a small amount of sugar to balance the sweetness.
5. Ladle the soup into bowls then add a generous spoonful of the green sauce on top. Thinly slice a little of the reserved rainbow chard stems and use as garnish. Serve with crusty bread.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.