Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Barley Anything For Dinner

I never had barley, except for in a can of Campbell's Vegetable Beef Soup, until I was near 40 years old. So pretty much every time I make something with barley, it's a "first time" for me.

Tonight I made a roast beef and one of the sides I made was a barley pilaf.

Barley Pilaf
adapted from Mother's brand barley

Ingredients
1 1/3 cup beef broth
1/2 cup barley (quick cooking)
1/2 cup carrots, thin sliced
1/2 cup bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Instructions
In a sauce pan, bring broth to a boil and stir in the barley. Cover and simmer until tender. They said 10-12 minutes but we went 15 and should have gone 20 minutes.

In a skillet, heat some butter and saute the carrots and bell pepper over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and cook another 2 minutes.

Add the cooked barley and worchestershire sauce and stir for another 30 seconds or so.

Remove from heat and cover until ready to serve.

Since I already had the veggies and barley out, after dinner, I went ahead and made their Mushroom Barley Soup for lunch tomorrow.

Mushroom Barley Soup
Mother's brand Barley

Ingredients
1 Tbsp oil
3 cups mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, sliced
6 cups beef broth
1/2 cup barley (quick cooking)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried marjoram

Instructions
In heavy 3 quart saucepan, cook mushrooms, onion, pepper and garlic in oil over medium heat about 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.

Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until barley is tender.

My thoughts are that I liked the flavor in both but the texture of the pilaf definitely needed more time cooking and I'll adjust that the next time.

Wish List Item
I would like a Firefox add-on that updates spell check with culinary related terms. Anyone know of one?