I love cooking with smoked pork bones because they are incredibly cheap and give fantastic smoky flavor. My butcher also sells bones that have quite a bit of meat on them, so with a little hassle you get a really affordable, satisfying meal. I usually toss smoked bones into stews and similar soupy dishes, but this time decided to throw them in a pot with barley and vegetables, to make a thick, risotto-like one pot dish.

Also, I got really lucky and scored bones which were on sale, so it was double win for me.

INGREDIENTS:

(Yields 8 servings / 0.43 EUR per serving / 3.40 EUR for all)

2 tbsp olive oil (0.09 EUR)

1 large onion (0.10 EUR)

4 large carrots (0.13 EUR)

2 parsley roots (0.27 EUR)

½ small celeriac root (0.27 EUR)

3 garlic cloves (0.09 EUR)

2 cups barley (0.67 EUR)

2 tbps tomato paste (0.13 EUR)

1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika (0.03 EUR)

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (0.03 EUR)

Bunch of fresh parsley leaves (0.13 EUR)

Bunch of fresh celeriac leaves (0.13 EUR)

1 kilo of smoked pork bones (1.33 EUR)

6-8 cups water (–)

METHOD:

Finely dice all the vegetables. In a colander, wash barley under running water. Chop pork bones into 6-8 smaller chunks (you can also ask your butcher to do this for you).

In a deep pot, saute diced onion with olive oil on high heat for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add in diced carrot, parsley root, celeriac root and garlic, giving everything a good stir. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in barley, paprika, black pepper, chopped parsley and celeriac leaves, then stir to combine. Nest pork bones in with the barley. Pour water so everything is mostly submerged, bring to boil and cook on low with lid cracked open for 45 minutes. Occasionally check on the dish and gently scrape barley from the bottom of the pot and add more water if necessary.

After 45 minutes turn the heat off, remove bones and let them cool enough to handle. Pick the meat from the bones, return meat to barley pot and stir everything well, discarding the clean bones. Now taste the dish for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Mine didn’t need any salt at all, the bones were salty enough. You might also want to add a bit more water, if the dish appears too thick, as barley keeps absorbing water all the time.

Serve with a nice green salad and enjoy!

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Volim kuhati sa suhim svinjskim kostima jer su jako jeftine a jelu daju fantastičnu aromu dima. Moj mesar prodaje kosti na kojima uvijek bude dosta mesa, tako da sa malo truda uvijek dobijem jeftino a ukusno jelo. Obično suhe kosti ubacim u variva i slična jušna jela, ali sam se ovoga puta odlučila dodati ih u lonac sa ječmom i povrćem, da dobijem gusto jelo slično rižotu, koje se kuha u jednom loncu.

Također, uspjela sam naletiti na suhe kosti na sniženju, pa je ovo za mene bila dvostruka pobjeda.

SASTOJCI:

(Za 8 porcija / 3,20 kn po porciji / 25,56 kn za sve)

2 žlice maslinovog ulja (0,66 kn)

1 veliki luk (0,75 kn)

4 velike mrkve (1,00 kn)

2 korjena peršina (2,00 kn)

½ male glavice celera (2,00 kn)

3 češnja češnjaka (0,70 kn)

2 šalice ječma (5,00 kn)

2 žlice pasirane rajčice (1,00 kn)

1 žličica slatke crvene paprike (0,25 kn)

1 žličica svježe mljevenog crnog papra (0,20 kn)

Pregršt svježeg lišća peršina (1,00 kn)

Pregršt svježeg lišća celera (1,00 kn)

1 kg suhih svinjskih kostiju (10,00 kn)

6-8 šalica vode (–)

PRIPREMA:

Sitno narežite svo povrće. U cjedilu pod tekućom vodom operite ječam. Nasijecite suhe kosti na 6-8 manjih komada (možete zamoliti i vašeg mesara da vam to napravi).

U dubokom loncu, na jakoj vatri, dinstajte luk na maslinovom ulju oko 5 minuta, dok ne postane staklast. Dodajte narezane mrkvu, korjen peršina, korjen celera i češnjak pa sve dobro promiješajte. Dinstajte oko 5 minuta, povremeno miješajući. Ubacite ječam, crvenu papriku, papar, nasjeckano lišće peršina i celera pa sve izmiješajte. Ugnijezdite unutra komade kostiju. Prelijte vodom, tako da sve uglavnom bude potopljeno, pričekajte da zakipi, pa onda smanjite vatru na nisko i kuhajte sa odškrinutim poklopcem 45 minuta. Povremeno provjerite jelo i nježno postružite ječam sa dna lonca, a po potrebi dodajte malo vode.

Nakon 45 minuta ugasite vatru, izvadite kosti i pustite da se malo ohlade. Skinite meso sa kostiju, pa meso umiješaje u lonac s ječmom, a kosti bacite. Sada probajte jelo i prilagodite začine. Ja nisam morala uopće soliti, jer su kosti bile već dovoljno slane. Možda ćete morati dodati i još malo vode ako vam se jelo čini pregustim, jer ječam upija puno tekućine.

Poslužite sa velikom zelenom salatom i uživajte!