Kelly Rossiter
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This dish isn't going to win any culinary beauty contests, and as it was cooking, I thought it was a good thing my husband was on vacation. It seemed like it might be one of those recipes that he might put on his "long suffering Planet Green guinea pig" side of the slate. As it turned out, it was quite tasty and I really enjoyed it.
This would be an excellent recipe for university students or for families on a tight budget. It was very economical, and it makes a huge amount. But best of all it's a nutritional powerhouse with both barley and lentils. At only 251 calories for a serving, it delivers 11.4 grams of protein, 45 grams of carbohydrates and 9.7 grams of dietary fibre. It was satisfyingly filling, but not the least bit heavy.
If you have leftovers, the barley will continue to soak up the liquid, so you will probably have to add some more vegetable stock or water the next day. If you want to change it a bit, add lots of stock and turn it into a soup.
The recipe calls for dried shiitake mushrooms, but if that's more than you want to spend, just use regular button mushrooms, increasing the amount of vegetable stock to replace the mushroom soaking water. I thought the dried shiitakes were pretty bland, so if you are going to spend the money on wild mushrooms, buy something with more flavour, like porcini. This is already a vegetarian recipe, and if you want to make it vegan, just saute the mushrooms in olive oil rather than butter. You could also substitute brown or red rice for the barley. Be aware that this isn't a quick recipe. You have to cook the barley first and then proceed with the recipe.
Mushroom and Barley Ragout
3 cups cooked whole barley (see below)
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
2 cups hot water
1 tbsp butter
8 oz cremini mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs ginger, minced
1 tsp cracked black peppercorns
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 cup dried brown lentils, rinsed and drained
4 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
finely chopped green onions for garnish
- In a bowl, combine dried shiitake mushrooms with hot water. Stir well. Let stand for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve, reserving mushrooms and liquid separately. Pat mushrooms dry, remove stems and chop finely.
- Meanwhile, in a deep skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add cremini mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they begin to release liquid, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
- Add oil to pan and heat for 30 seconds. Add onions, celery and carrots and cook, stirring, until vegetables are softened, about 7 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, peppercorns and 5 spice powder and coo, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in reconstituted and fresh mushrooms. Add barley and lentils and stir well. Stir in stock and reserved mushroom soaking liquid. Bring to a boil Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. Stir in soy sauce. Garnish with green onions.
- For barley: Add 1 cup barley to rapidly boiling water. Cover and reduce heat. Cook until barley is tender, from 50 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes depending on the type of barley used. Yields 3 cups of cooked barley. Whole (hulled) barley is the whole grain. Pot barley leaves some of the bran and germ intact, and with pearl barley, must of the bran and germ have been removed.
From The Complete Whole Grains Cookbook by Judith Finlayson.
Difficulty Level: Easy
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