Sea rose pasta, also known as barley or manestra, is a small pasta made from semolina or durum wheat flour. It is popular in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine and can be used in soups, stews, casseroles, and pasta salads. It is a great substitute for rice and can be found in most major grocery stores.
Rosemary or sea rose paste is basically identified as a synonym of barley, which can also be called manestra. Depending on where you live, you may find a small pasta that looks a lot like grains of rice and is usually made from semolina or durum wheat flour marketed as barley or sea rose pasta. The paste is very desirable for use in pilafs, soups or stews, and as a basis for meat and vegetable dishes.
You can think of this pasta as rice that isn’t rice. If you want a subtle taste change from rice to a wheat-based pasta, using rosemary is a great way to go. You’ll find numerous dishes featuring this pasta, many of them Mediterranean and Middle Eastern, where this tiny pasta is so popular. Yet you don’t have to stick to these recipes to enjoy sea rose pasta. Nearly every soup is delicious when barley is added; it’s a great substitute for beef barley soup, which makes sense since orzo translates to Italian as barley.
Pasta salads made with sea pink pasta can be excellent. Due to the size of the pasta, these are much denser than those salads made with larger noodles. Simple pasta salad recipes can include things like some greens and a light dressing of vinegar, oil, and lemon juice. Alternatively, you can cook barley as a breakfast food and top it with some honey and cinnamon.
Another use of sea rose is in casseroles. Again the density is a plus since you’ll be able to pack more pasta into one dish, increasing serving capacity. If you’re looking to please picky eaters, especially children, you might want to look for barley or rainbow-colored sea rose. The extra color, usually provided by vegetable dyes that you can’t taste, can tempt those who eat differently, and can create a delightful color contrast in dishes of all kinds, which can greatly enhance presentation.
Due to the growing popularity of pink sea pasta, you shouldn’t have much trouble finding it at most major grocery stores. Look for it near the other pasta varieties, and you may want to ask a grocery store to stock it if it’s not on hand. Of course, you can vary recipes that call for barley by using other pastas or similar grains. Rice and couscous can make good substitutes, and there are a number of tiny pastes called soup pastes that can be used instead.
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