Peel and thinly slice the onion. Peel and crush the garlic cloves.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, and cook the onion and garlic over a gentle heat for 5 minutes until softened.
Meanwhile, peel and de-seed the butternut squash and cut into cubes. Add to the pan and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Add the pearl barley and white wine to the pan, turn up the heat and cook for 3 minutes until most of the wine has cooked away.
Add the stock, bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Remove any tough stalks from the curly kale and roughly chop the leaves. Remove the stalks from the parsley and finely chop the leaves.
Add the curly kale to the pan, and cook for a further 5 minutes until the pearl barley is tender, but still a little chewy.
Remove from the heat, stir through the parsley and juice of the lemon.
Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until just turning golden brown.
Divide the pearl barley between bowls and scatter each with the toasted pine nuts to serve.
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Notes
Keep an eye on the liquid level whilst your pearl barley is cooking. If it is looking too dry, just add a little more water, and/or put a lid on the pot as it cooks gently. If there is too much liquid left towards the end of cooking time, turn up the heat a little until it bubbles away.The pearl barley should be just cooked through, not completely soft. Taste it near to the end of cooking time and adjust cooking time accordingly.