Mushroom Barley Salad

Dear readers,
     You may have noticed that some time has passed since the last post...and that some time had passed before that one. I can explain. You see, I was a first year teacher and let me tell you, the end of the school year is nuts. I kept thinking that I would get around to making something, maybe alfajores, but no such luck. Since my bff and co-blogger Amber has been busy at work--and away on her honeymoon!--things have been too quiet around here. Sorry for that! I'm planning to get back on track this summer.
      Let the cooking begin!
Love, Alexis

Sorry about photo quality--I had to resort to using my iPhone.

     I started getting The Food Network Magazine a few months ago, because Amber gave me a gift subscription for Christmas. (Thanks!!) The magazine is entertaining to read and always features very approachable recipes. I LOVE Saveur, but I don't usually end up make too many of its recipes. The TNW, on the other hand, has tons of practical weekday meals as well as more ambitious weekend projects. I had yet to make a FNW recipe, which I felt was completely unacceptable.
    When the new issue arrived a couple of days ago I dug around for something simple to ease my way back into the kitchen. I decided on a mushroom barley salad recipe. Mushrooms? Barley? Always a happy couple!
     The original recipe was a side dish, but I tweaked it and re-imagined it as a main. If you are good at planning ahead, soak your barley over night in to shorten the cooking time. Conversely, I cooked my barley earlier in the day, then warmed it up and mixed in the other ingredients at dinnertime. The lemon I used was huge, so the "juice from one lemon" was slightly overpowering. Other than that, this recipe is simple and satisfying. It can be served hot or cold. I considered adding garlic when sauteeing the veggies, but decided to stay closer to the original with this version. If you feel adventurous and want to try the garlic, let me know how it goes.

Mushroom and Barley Salad

~Print Recipe~

• 1 cup barley
• 2 1/2 cups broth
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, separated
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 small carrots, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 4 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 20 or so shrimp (we used pre-cooked)
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• Juice from one lemon (small or medium-sized, not too large)
• 2 teaspoons whole-grain or dijon mustard   (or more to taste)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring broth to a boil in a medium pot. Stir in barley and cook for 15 minutes (for pre-soaked barley) or 35-40 minutes (for unsoaked).
2. Meanwhile, heat a large pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add chopped onions, carrots, and celery. Sautee about 5 minutes, then stir in mushrooms. Continue cooking until mushrooms are almost cooked through, about 3 minutes more. Stir in shrimp, cooking for 1-2 minutes. Then add spinach and continue stirring just until spinach starts to wilt, 1-2 minutes.
3. In large bowl, whisk lemon zest, lemon juice, mustard, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the barley mixture and toss. Adjust seasoning as needed. Can be served hot or cold (though be aware of food safety issues if serving cold).

Serves 4

Mushroom Barley Soup

Molly Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook and my childhood are inseparable. My mom religiously cooked its vegetarian recipes--in fact I don't remember her ever cooking from any other cookbook. She had some recipe cards, for sure, but as far as I know the Moosewood was the only book.

And you can tell from looking at the copy I inherited it that it has been lovingly used for the past 35 years. The title page contains page numbers of favorite recipes, there are notes in the margins and--the best indication of a cookbook's worth--stained pages from years of use. If those stains are any indication, the soup section of Katzen's book is the best. In my mother's house at least, they were the most often used. I grew up eating lentil soup and Hungarian mushroom soup. I would ask for the white bean and black olive soup as my special birthday meal.

The Moosewood mushroom barley soup is as simple as it is delicious. It is very savory and it lets the flavor of the mushrooms really come through. Barley is an under-utilized grain. It is inexpensive to buy in bulk, it cooks easily like rice, and adds a distinct flavor and depth.

For how delicious this soup is, the recipe is surprisingly easy and not at all labor intensive. It does take around an hour to cook, but most of the time it is simmering and does not require you to slave over it. The ingredient list is shorter than many (less flavorful) soups and therefore prep-time is minimal.

We had this soup on a cold mid-winter night with a glass of red wine (thank you, Libby!) and hunks of crusty La Brea sourdough bread. It was, in Starbucks speak, "a perfect pairing," and one I would highly recommend. I have a feeling my future kids will be as familiar with the Moosewood Cookbook as I was.

Mushroom Barley Soup

~Print Recipe~

• 1/2 cup raw pearled barley
• 6 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock, vegetable stock (or water)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 or 4 tablespoons tamari (a type of soy sauce)
• 3 or 4 tablespoons dry sherry
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 heaping cup chopped onion
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. In a soup pot, bring 1 1/2 cups of stock to a boil. Stir in barley, cover with a lid and reduce heat to low. Simmer until barley is tender, about 35 minutes. (Note: If you soak the barley over night in a cup of water or stock, you can reduce cooking time to around 15 minutes.)
2. Add the remaining stock, tamari and sherry.
3. Saute the onions and garlic in butter over medium heat. When they soften, add mushrooms and 1/2 teaspoon salt. When all is tender, add to the barley--making sure to include all of the liquid in the pan.
4. Generously sprinkle with black pepper and simmer for 20 minutes, covered, over the lowest possible heat. Taste to adjust seasonings. Serve hot.

Serves 6

Eggplant Casserole

This dish was not very photogenic. Since it wasn't much to look at, I didn't take any pictures of it when it came out of the oven. After eating it, though, I wished I would have taken some anyway. It was really good (right out of the oven as well as reheated as leftovers) and I think people always like to see what the finished product looks like, even if it's not fancy food porn all the time. Some foods are not really that good looking, but we all know that has nothing to do with how they taste.

Now, that being said, this wasn't a groundbreaking dish, it was just a simple weeknight dinner that was satisfying and healthy. (Disclosure: I am desperately in love with eggplant, so I may have liked this more than the average person.) This recipe is loosely based on one from Meals in Minutes.

Eggplant Casserole
~Print Recipe~

• 2 medium eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch rounds
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 package sliced mushrooms
• 1 large onion, chopped
  
• 3 cups marinara sauce (we used low-sodium, but I think a garlicky sauce would be good)
• Grated mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it with nonstick spray. Lay the eggplant in a single layer and spray with nonstick spray. Broil until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Flip eggplant slices over, spray with nonstick spray and broil until the other side has browned, about 4 minutes more.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent and mushrooms are browned. 
3. Spread 1 cup sauce evenly on the bottom of an 11x14 inch baking dish. Add half of the onion and mushroom mixture evenly over sauce. Sprinkle lightly with cheese. Add eggplant rounds, overlapping slightly to cover dish entirely. Add another light layer of sauce, then the rest of the onion/mushroom mixture. Sprinkle with more cheese. Add another layer of remaining eggplant, then finish with more sauce and top with another layer of mozzarella. 
4. Bake about 20 minutes or until sauce is heated through and the cheese has browned. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.
   

Veggies You Love Chowder

Today I received my first shipment for my CSA box from Farm Fresh To You and I spent the afternoon researching recipes that would use a good part of the veggies.  If you are interested in signing up for this CSA program, I can refer you at a discount on the first trial.

After looking through all my Mollie Katzen books (Moosewood) I found one that seemed easy and versatile, Vegetable Chowder.  After making this, I realized the veggie portions are more of a guideline, I would use whatever you have on hand.

What's in it

Butter

2C chopped onion

6 cloves garlic, minced

salt, thyme & basil (whatever else you like as well, I used Caraway Seed)

1 medium potato, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 medium carrots, diced

2C chopped broccoli

1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped

frozen or fresh corn

Diced tomatoes, canned and drained

fresh black pepper

1 1/2C water

1 Qt milk, heated.

How it's made

Melt butter in large pot or dutch oven.  Add onion, half of garlic and basil, thyme, salt.  Satue about 5 minutes until onions clarify.  Add potatoes, celery, carrots, broccoli and saute another 5 minutes or so. Add mushrooms, corn and tomatoes, plus lots of pepper.  Saute another 10 minutes.  Add water, cover and simmer about 15 minutes until everything is tender.  Stir in the milk and remaining garlic.  Remove from heat.  Served topped with fresh herbs.

Obviously you can add or subtract depending on your ingredients.  I added half a bag of frozed artichoke hearts I had on hand, because I love them!  Other good additions are cauliflower, zucchini, etc.  Sorry there are not precise measurements for some of the smaller portions, I don't believe in measuring those amounts.  It will depend on how much veggies you have.

This turned out to be an incredibly delicious soup, very creamy and flavorful.  I also picked up a par baked french bread from TJ's and baked it fresh out of the oven, and it was perfect with the soup.  Yum!

Crock Pot No Brainer Bean Soup

This morning I woke up two hours before I had to go to work, rode my bike to the farmer's market and TJ's, rode back, threw this together in the crock pot, and was on my way.  Fabulous! The best is getting home to a fully cooked meal.

Ingredients

1 package dried 17 bean mix (from TJ's)

celery chopped

carrot chopped

1 onion chopped and sauteed in butter

sausage links sliced

mushrooms chopped

1 box veggie stock

spices (salt, pepper, caraway, bay leaf, oregano...)

The way it's done

Disclaimer: depending on the size of your crock pot, you will want to adjust ingredient size.  I had to use only half a package of beans for mine, since it's so small.

You'll have to soak the beans in water overnight.  They soak up a lot of water, so be sure to have enough water covering them (2 inches). 

In the morning, put all the ingredients in the crock pot, and add water to fill enough liquid.  Put the crock pot on low, go to work, and come home to a warm and delicious meal!  I just ate mine with baguette and butter.

I'll probably make a second batch tomorrow with the rest of my ingredients, then freeze it for later.  Feel free to add or subtract variety of ingredients.