Dish Notes: This recipe is taken from Antony Worrall Thompson’s gi diet recipe book. Arborio rice has a high GI thereby using pearl barley instead this considerably reduces the GI count of this dish.

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients
• 10g unsalted butter
• 2 leeks, sliced and rinced
• 2 garlic cloves (chopped)
• ½ teaspoon thyme leaves
• 350g pearl barley (or brown wholegrain barley
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1.2 litres chicken stock
• 110g chorizo (diced)
• 2 handfuls of mixed spinach and rocket
• 4 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons snipped chives
• 25g freshly grated parmesan

Method
1. Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and melt the butter. Once the butter has melted add thyme, garlic and leeks. Cook until the leeks have softened, this should take about 3-4 minutes. If the leeks start to stick add a dash of water.

2. Next stir on the barley, cayenne pepper and chicken stock and bring to the boil. Once bubbling reduce the heat and let it simmer until the liquid has evaporated and the barley is tender. This should take approx 40 minutes. Please feel free to add extra stock if required.

3. Stir in the chorizo, spinach and rocket until the leaves have wilted.

4. Garnish with the parsley and chives and serve with parmesan.

Nutritional Information: 498kcal, 14g fat, 5.7g sat fat, 0.71g sodium