I add mushrooms and spruce grouse to this; chicken or any other white meat would be fine, too.
Prep time: PT20M
Cook time: PT30M
Total time: PT50M
Rating
5 stars (20 reviews)
Keywords
barley risotto
Ingredients
1 ounce dried mushrooms
4 tablespoons butter, (divided)
1 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 cups barley
1 tablespoon fresh lovage, parsley or savory, (minced)
2 teaspoons ground juniper ((optional))
5 cups stock ((chicken, grouse, vegetable, etc.))
8 ounces shredded grouse, (chicken or other meat)
1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese
2 tablespoons minced chives
Categories
lunch
Main Course
Cuisine
American
Italian
Steps
Pour a couple cups of boiling water over the mushrooms to rehydrate them. Chop and shred the other ingredients while the mushrooms are softening. When they are rehydrated, chop them fine. Reserve 1 cup of the soaking water.
Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions and the mushrooms until the onions are soft and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and the barley and stir well.
Stir in the cup of mushroom soaking water, then add the herbs and juniper, if using. Stir constantly until the water has mostly been absorbed, then add a cup of the stock and repeat.
Keep this process up until the barley is tender. Once you have a couple cups of liquid absorbed, you can drop the heat to medium and slow down on the stirring. You still need to stir often, just not constantly.
When the barley is tender, stir in a little more stock, the shredded grouse and the cheese. When that's incorporated, mix in the last tablespoon of butter. Serve garnished with chives.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 639 kcal
Carbohydrates: 82 g
Protein: 35 g
Fat: 21 g
Saturated Fat: 10 g
Trans Fat: 0.5 g
Cholesterol: 79 mg
Sodium: 310 mg
Sugar: 3 g
Unsaturated Fat: 9 g
Reviews
Jeff Loomans on 2025-09-12 (5 stars): Thanks Hank this was great - we just got back from a fishing/hiking camp in the wilds of Vancouver Island and the chef made a similar risotto to go with game and salmon, so I was really happy to see you had a dependable recipe. The only change I made based on what they'd done (I kept the game stock, lovage, savory which they didn't use) was to add a white/sweetish miso to the stock and a bit more swirled in with duck fat instead of butter/cheese at the end, which gave it an umami kick and was a nice accompaniment to duck done asian-style. It's definitely going to be my fall/winter risotto instead of italian rice style from now on!
Dylan on 2025-04-21 (5 stars): I made a version of this last night with the first morels of my season and some smoked fontina cheese. Throwing the barley in an instapot for 20min allowed time to slice and fry the morels before folding it all together. I make barley several times a year thanks to this recipe.
Theboldfarmer on 2025-01-27 (5 stars): I am grateful for this one. Barley risotto is a go to for grouse, ptarmigan and snowshoe hare.
Other mushrooms, herbs and game all work out well.
Thank you
Dean Sherwood on 2022-10-28 (5 stars): This was incredible. I may never go back to rice.
Bob Ragsdale on 2022-10-19 (5 stars): I don't have any birds at the moment, no white meat at all really but I did have a big bag of beef bones so I roasted them, boiled them, and made a stock to use in this recipe along with about two cups of fresh mushrooms. Fantastic.
Dean Sherwood on 2022-09-24 (5 stars): Hell yes. I tried this with my opening day squirrels. Make this, you will not regret it.
Tim Maguire on 2022-09-17 (5 stars): I just made this with lovage from our garden and it was delicious! One small variation on the recipe; I soaked the barley for an hour beforehand and that way it cooked like arborio in 20 minutes.
Thank you so much as always, Hank.
You’re an inspiration
Dean Sherwood on 2022-09-12 (5 stars): Wow. grouse, squirrel and rabbit seasons open here in Michigan this Thursday. This recipe is first up this year, even before squirrel and dumplings (my go-to first dish of fall).
