Barley stew

I made barley once a long time ago and my husband apparently loved it. I never made it again, but tried barley another way that was not as much of a success. Then the opened bag of barley sat in the cupboard, lonely. When I started my daughter on solids (cereal), the third one we tried was barley. My husband turned to me and said, "you made that amazing barley dish once and you never made it again. I loved it! It was like a stew or something." I didn't even know what recipe I had used, but I knew had to find it or try something else. So after trying to find the recipe I used and having no luck, today I browsed the Internet and came up with tonight's dinner: a vegetable barley stew. You could make this truly vegetarian by substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth I used. I would've added potatoes (but I finished the bag yesterday) and thought about adding meat, but decided to keep it simple.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled, halved and chopped
1 container (227g) sliced mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 can (796 ml) diced tomatoes in juice
1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
1 carton (946 ml) chicken stock
2 handfuls baby spinach
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat.
Add onions; sauté until onions begin to soften, about 3-5 minutes.
Add carrots, season with salt and pepper, saute until they soften, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, garlic, and rosemary; increase heat to medium-high and sauté until mushrooms soften and begin to brown, stirring often, about 7 minutes.
Add tomatoes with juice; stir 1 minute.
Add barley and chicken stock; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until barley is tender and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 30 minutes.
Add spinach; stir until wilted. Cover and let simmer another 5-10 minutes.
If the barley isn't done or it's not at the consistency you'd like, you can add more stock till it gets where you'd like it.

As a main dish, you'll probably get 4 servings. If you pair it with a nice meat dish or other side, you can probably get 6 servings out of it. And my husband said he really liked this version!

Below is the pic I remembered to take as I was packing up our lunches.

A new variation: A recently used this recipe but changed up some of the ingredients and it turned out yummy once again! Instead of using mushrooms, I substituted one head of broccoli (chopped into small pieces) and 4 potatoes (chopped into small pieces).  I added the broccoli when I added the carrots and added the potatoes when I added the tomatoes. I also used slightly more than 1 cup of pot barely (rinsed) and closer to 1-1/2 cartons of chicken stock.  I cooked it for about 45 minutes until most of the liquid was evaporated and the barley and potatoes were tender.  I continued on with the spinach as above.  Then I added freshly grated Parmesan over each bowl of stew.

Sausages & Frites

Today my grandparents visited me and my daughter. They dropped off some fresh sausages that my grandfather made this past weekend.  I knew right away what I was going to make: salsiccia con peperoni e cippole (sausages with pepper and onions). I had these nice Panini that would go great with the sausages. As my side I was going to use my T-Fal Actifry to make some potatoes - my husband loves them!

So I peeled one large sweet potato and 3 small-medium russet potatoes and chopped them into wedges. I tossed them with some vegetable oil, paprika, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and threw them in the Actifry. I drizzled some more oil over top, set it to 40 minutes and turned it on.

Next I chopped up one onion and 1.5 red peppers. I always prefer red peppers because they have this nice sweetness to them. I also chopped up my grandfather's sausages. They were very fresh, so I could have (maybe even should have) left them whole, but that's alright.

I heated up my pan with some oil and tossed everything in.  Because the sausages were very fresh, I added a little bit of water since they'd need to fry a little longer than usual. A sprinkle of salt and pepper and I let them cook, stirring frequently. Covering the pan will keep the heat and moisture in. At this point you could add a variety of seasonings if you wanted.

The bottom of the pan got a lot of nice brown bits so near the end I added just a splash more of water to loosen it all up. I cooked it all over medium-low heat for the most part. The onions got all yummy and carmelized, the peppers got nice and soft and the sausages were cooked through and brown.

The potatoes and sausages were done at about the exact same time. At this point you plate it and enjoy your dinner. You can put the sausages in a sandwich (especially if you kept the sausages whole or halved them lengthwise) or just eat them with the bread.
Dinner was so yummy - there wasn't enough leftovers for the both of us for lunch tomorrow!

Tonight's Dinner: braised chicken stew with quinoa

Back in November I was watching The Chew and Michael Symon was making this dish with turkey thighs. I was very interested in making that dish, but had to adapt the recipe to what was in my kitchen. It turned out quite good and I decided to make it again for dinner tonight with a side of quinoa. It was so yummy - and a little spicy! There was enough for me and my husband for dinner and leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

FYI: the original recipe can be found here - http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Braised-Turkey-Thighs-Spicy-Kale-Michael-Symon

Stew of Braised Chicken thighs, potatoes and spinach

Makes 4 servings
Prep time: 30 mins
Ready in: 60-75 mins

Ingredients:

4 chicken boneless, skinless thighs, cut into large pieces

4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

2 carrots, peeled and large diced

1 onion, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

2 heaping tbsp tomato paste 

olive oil

2  tsp bay leaves (dried)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1.5 cups red wine

1 cup chicken stock

2 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped (or whole)

Salt

Directions:

1. Let the chicken come to room temperature for approx. 30 minutes. Sprinkle all sides with salt. 

2. Preheat the oven to 375F.

3. In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, put the chicken down into the pot. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until the chicken is well browned. Flip the pieces and cook for 3-4 minutes to brown other sides. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside on a plate.

4. Add the onions and a good pinch of salt to the pot and cook for 1 minute. Add the carrots and garlic and cayenne pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in the wine and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan using a wooden spoon. Cook for about 4 minutes, or until wine is reduced by half. Add the potatoes, bay leaves, chicken stock, and tomato paste and bring to a simmer.

5. Adjust for seasoning, adding salt if needed, and then add the spinach. Cover the pot and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and stir. Put the chicken thighs on top of the spinach, put the lid back on, and put in the oven for 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. 

Quinoa

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa, rinsed under cold water

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup water

1 tbsp butter

Mrs. Dash original seasoning - to your tastes

I tossed this all in my rice cooker and let it go. My rice cooker is slow so it took about an hour. But you can cook it over the stovetop on a medium-low heat until the liquid is evaporated. 

Spoon a nice scoop on your plate and top with the stew and some of the juicy liquids! If you're a wimp like me - keep a tissue nearby in case the spice makes your nose runny!

Welcome!

My name is Erica. I am the wife to an amazing husband and the mother to a beautiful little girl. I am currently on maternity leave, and as I am slowing getting the hang of managing my time as a new mom, I am venturing back into the kitchen.

I love food and I love cooking - especially baking. Here I hope to share some of my adventures in the kitchen, whether they be my tried and true recipes or new experiments that may or may not turn out so well.

So come along for a ride and experience what goes down in my kitchen.