I just spent just over a glorious week traveling around some beautiful parts of NSW over the Easter break. Our first destination was a glorious property belonging to my dear friend Danielle’s family in northern NSW and it came resplendent with wild butternut pumpkin ripe for the picking. Thanks Danielle.

Healthy recipes that taste truly fabulous are always get filed away in the must-make-again category. This one I adapted from a Donna Hay recipe. My mum is on a tangent buying us Donna Hay recipe books at the moment so I’ve been putting them to some use. After a week of eating camp food (albeit great camp food) this recipe really hit the spot.

1/2 a butternut pumpkin – sliced
2 tbspn honey
2 tbspn white balsamic
salt and pepper
1 large handful of green beans – blanched
1 1/2 cups pearl barley (rinsed)
4 1/2 cups water
200 grams feta (sliced)
1 small lump of speck or bacon (I had house smoked speck at home to use up) – diced and fried until crispy
Chopped parsley

Vinaigrette dressing

1 tbspn white balsamic
1 tbspn olive oil
1 tspn finely chopped preserved lemon rind

Combine the vinaigrette ingredients and set aside.
Combine white balsamic, honey, salt and pepper. Place sliced pumpkin onto a sheet of baking paper and bake in 180ºC oven for 25 mins or until golden.
Simmer pearl barley in water for about 15 minutes or until soft

Serve ingredients on plates and drizzle with vinaigrette.

Delicious. Thanks Donna Hay.