Weekend Herb Blogging #16 - Barley.The Best Recipes in the World.Barley with Dried and Fresh Mushrooms.

I love taking these photos for Weekend Herb Blogging where I show a close-up of the particular ingredient I'm spotlighting that week, and I thought this close view of barley was quite interesting. This recipe from Eastern Europe is another one from Mark Bittman's great book, The Best Recipes in the World. If you're only going to buy one cookbook in 2006, this should be the one. Bittman gives us the best recipes from each country, and his famous minimalist style makes them easy for home cooks to follow. He also gives lots of ideas for substituting ingredients, which makes the book very usable, even for relatively inexperienced cooks.

I have to confess, I've probably mostly eaten barley in soup, so I was surprised to learn that barley is a major food crop, fourth in the world of cereal crops, according to Wikipedia. Barley is used as a grain, and in producing drinks, (especially beer, which is definitely not a low carb food!) I didn't know that barley was a major ingredient several hot drinks used as a coffee substitute, especially in Europe. This dish, kind of a barley pilaf, turned out well, although I made several changes to the recipe. I also made turkey barley soup recently and it was fantastic; I'll share that recipe in a few days.

If you compared the original recipe with the one I'm giving you, you would see why I am called the woman who never followed a recipe in her life. I am giving you the recipe the way I would make it next time, adding fresh mushrooms and greatly increasing the liquid and barley cooking time.

The off-white bowl used in this food photo was a gift from my sister Sandee, whose husband Clayton built an amazing greenhouse last year. I have to admit I am quite jealous of that greenhouse. Sandee and Clayton borrowed my car when they went to Nevada to get married, just a *few* years ago.

Barley with Dried and Fresh Mushrooms
Adapted from The Best Recipes in the World

5 ounces (or more) dried porcini mushrooms
8 ounces sliced white or portabella mushrooms
1 1/2 cups pearl barley (not instant)
3 cups chicken stock or canned chicken broth
1 cup mushroom soaking liquid, reduced to 1/2 cup
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. onion powder
2 T butter
2 T extra virgin olive oil

Put dried porcini on cutting board and coarsely chop with chef's knife, then place them in bowl and pour 1 cup boiling water over. Let stand 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, strain mushrooms (a coffee filter or a piece of cheesecloth would work for this) catching liquid. Boil mushroom liquid to reduce to 1/2 cup.

Heat 1 T butter and 1 T olive oil in dutch oven type pan. Add barley and saute 3-5 minutes, until barley is slightly toasted and well coated with oil. Add stock, reduced mushroom juice, thyme, and onion powder, bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover, and simmer until all liquid is absorbed and barley is tender, about 30-35 minutes. Add more liquid and cook longer if needed to get the barley to the degree of tenderness you want.

When barley is tender and all liquid is absorbed, turn off heat. In very large deep frying pan, heat remaining butter and olive oil. Saute fresh mushrooms 3-5 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are softened. Add porcini mushrooms and saute 2-3 minutes more, then stir in barley and heat through. Serve hot, garnished with fresh chopped parsley.

Barley is considered a "good" carb on the South Beach Diet, and this would be a great side dish to serve with something like Sauteed Chicken Cutlets with Capers and Sage or Forbidden City Chicken. You could add some Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Hoisin Sauce for a great meal.

Weekend Herb Blogging happens every week on Kalyn's Kitchen. If you're a blogger and want to participate, check the Weekend Herb Blogging Archives for more information. Also on the weekend, check out Weekend Cat Blogging at Eat Stuff and Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnicks.

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