Tomato and Vegetable Risotto Faces

Are you planning a fun afternoon with your kids this weekend? It’s generally frowned upon to play with your food, but you could make an exception to try out this fun recipe.

1. Start the dish the night before by soaking your pearl barley. The next day, drain and rinse well.
2. To make the tomato sauce, plunge the tomatoes into a pan of boiling water for a couple of seconds, and then transfer to a bowl of iced water. Peel off the skins and remove the seeds then dice the flesh and set aside.
3. Add oil to a pan and set over a medium-low heat. When hot, add the garlic and shallots and sweat. Add the tomato, 200ml vegetable stock and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Pour the mixture into a blender, pulse until smooth and pass through a sieve. Set aside until needed.
5. To make the risotto, add the vegetable oil to a heavy bottomed pan and set over a medium heat. Once hot, add the garlic and shallots and cook until translucent.
6. Add the pearl barley to the pan and fry slowly for 2 minutes. A little at a time, add the tomato sauce until all is used up, stirring continuously as you go.
7. Slowly pour in the remaining stock and keep stirring until all of the liquid has been absorbed and the pearl barley is tender.
8. One at a time, cook the green beans, baby corn, and beetroot for two minutes each in lightly salted boiling water. Make sure you cook the beetroot last as it doesn’t take very long to be ready – you can also use pre-cooked beetroot if you want.
9. Add the Parmesan to the risotto, stir well and divide between 4 plates in flat circles to make ‘faces’.
10. Serve and enjoy!

Chef’s Tip: Arrange the vegetable on top to make faces: carrots for mouth; corn for nose; beetroot for eyes; beans for eyebrows.