Ingredients

• 300ml/10fl oz chicken stock
• 100ml/3½fl oz single cream
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 30g/1oz butter
• 1 shallot
• finely chopped
• 225g/8oz pearl barley
• 50ml/2fl oz white wine
• 800ml/1 pint 8fl oz chicken stock
• 2 bunches English asparagus
• woody ends snapped off and reserved
• 60g/2¼oz bacon lardons
• 85g/3oz cooked and shelled broad beans
• 3 tomatoes
• skinned and seeds removed
• cut into 1cm/½in cubes

Directions

• For the sauce
• add the woody ends of the asparagus stems to the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for another five minutes. Blend the mixture and pass through a sieve into a clean saucepan. Add the cream and season
• to taste
• with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• For the pearl barley
• melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the shallot for one minute without colouring. Add the pearly barley and cook for a further minute.
• Add the wine to the mixture and bring to the boil
• then add 325ml/11fl oz of the stock and return to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer
• stirring occasionally
• until all of the stock has been absorbed. Add another 325ml/11fl oz of stock and cook for a further 20-25 minutes
• or until the barley is tender. (You may need to add a little more stock.)
• Meanwhile
• cut 4cm/1½in of the tips from the asparagus and set aside. Slice the remaining stems at an angle.
• Cook the asparagus tips in boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes
• drain and refresh in salted ice water then drain again.
• Fry the bacon lardons in a frying pan for one minute
• or until golden-brown
• Stir the sliced asparagus stems into the barley and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Stir in the bacon
• broad beans
• asparagus tips and tomatoes.
• To serve
• froth the sauce with a hand blender. Spoon the barley into deep serving bowls and pour over the sauce.