My dinner tonight was SCRUMPTIOUS. For the first time ever, I made a dinner experiment that I knew from the get-go that S wouldn't eat. For some reason, lately I've been wanting to eat barley. It's not like I've eaten barley that often, so I didn't have some fabulous dish in mind (though I'm fairly certain that my mom once made a chicken and barley dish...am I right, mom?). And I had a hunch that even if the barley dish I chose had no vegetables, S still wouldn't come near it. So I thought, why the hell not throw in some veggies?
Searching for recipes with no limitations is a lot harder than searching for recipes with limitations. First of all, you can't just offhandedly toss one out because it has green peppers or onion or something. No, no, you have to consider each recipe on it's merit, which takes A LOT longer. And opens up entire new sources, like Epicurious, which previously I found hard to use, because those recipes abound with veggies. So anyway, I finally zeroed in on a good recipe that was short on ingredients, and long on things I liked. I'm not going to explain the recipe, I'm just going to post it, because I liked it THAT much.
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onions, chopped (I used a sweet onion)
1/2 cup pearl barley
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 cups canned vegetable broth (plus a few splashes from the can)
3/4 cup small bow-tie pasta, freshly cooked
Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté until deep brown, about 15 minutes. Add barley and stir 30 seconds. Add mushrooms; sauté until barley browns and mushrooms begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add broth. Bring mixture to boil. Cover pan; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until barley is tender and broth is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Mix in pasta. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
I changed the quantities in this recipe. Almost everything was double, but I cut it down since it was just for me, except for the pasta and the mushroom quantities. My thinking is, you can never have too many mushrooms, and 1/2 cup of pasta just didn't seem like enough. I also added the splashes of vegetable broth because I thought (as it cooked) that it seemed a little dry. I think, all in all, that I used at least 3/4 of the can of veg. broth. I also used gray salt at the end, and that was a fantastic addition. If you can get your hands on some gray salt, I urge you to try it in things. It's so worth it. (I got mine from Penzey's; beware, however, because Penzey's is addictive. I love love love their Chip and Dip spice mix, and their sandwich sprinkle is perfection on a salad with some vinegar. I also use the Northwoods seasoning on chicken, and the Greek seasoning as an all-around good sprinkle, on salads and in sauces, as well as on chicken. I cannot get enough. I'm a cerifiably insane spice fiend. Now, I just need a simple spice rack so that my pantry isn't taken over by the spices.)
Anyway, this meal is 100% vegetarian, but I suspect that it would make a nice accompaniment to baked or broiled chicken. I ate it by itself, but that's because I'm counting points. (It's pretty low point for one serving--somewhere around seven points.) And I have to say, it was beautiful. I should have had S take a picture. Its deep brown color (from the onion, I presume, and the browned barley) stained the pasta, and it almost looked too perfect to eat.
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