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The Greek barley pasta, you will find it in many recipes throughout Greece. Mainly we use it traditionally in the islands of the South and East Aegean and also in the Ionian Islands. It is cooked with meat, with lamb, with goat, with veal, with chicken, with fish or seafood, but also with many vegetables, mainly in the Cyclades, and is referred to as manestra or mirmigeli.
Noodle is the name the islanders give to the food made with this traditional handmade pasta which is made with flour, water and a little olive oil in the dough.
I still remember the grandmothers gathering and sitting in the yards at the end of summer and into the beginning of autumn and kneading the easy but tough dough, letting it rest and then spreading it on the wooden table. By dipping the fingers in a little olive oil and with a technique that requires the two fingers, the index finger and the thumb, to cut small little pasta in the shape of the barley. Like machines, their experienced hands made mountains of this traditional pasta. It was then spread out on clean cloths in the sun to dry and kept reverently in canvas bags so that the family would have a soup kitchen for the family dishes.
Red meats, soups, and even sweets are made with this traditional pasta. Traditionally, the barley needs olive oil and a protein that will stand out through each recipe, a little cheese if it is meat, or lemon and vegetables if it is fish.
However, barley is technically a different story. Like risotto, it requires a broth, a fatty substance like butter to thicken, and some grated cheese to thicken.
See here how the Parians make pilaf with barley and octopus