Barley with Roasted Mushrooms

I have been eyeing this recipe from Food 52 for several weeks and finally got around to trying it. The original calls for farro, but I substituted pearled barley. Delicious. I loved it warm, room temperature and chilled.

BARLEY WITH ROASTED MUSHROOMS

1 cup barley
1/4 lb (approx.) oyster mushrooms
1/4 lb (approx.) shiitake mushrooms
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Parmesan
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 Tbsp lemon juice

-Preheat oven to 350

-Rinse barley

-Add barley to a pot and cover with cold water and add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes, adding more water if needed

-Cut all of the mushrooms into bite sized pieces

-Line a baking sheet with tin foil, toss the mushrooms with salt and pepper and roast until mushrooms are starting to crisp and brown around edges, for about 20 minutes

-Drain barley and set aside barley and mushrooms to cool a little

-Toss together in a bowl, crumble parmesan into pieces and add to bowl with chopped parsley and lemon juice

-Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary

Borlotti Bean and Farro Soup

Shopping with my mom at a west suburban Italian grocery store I came across a treat, fresh borlotti beans!  I talked about the dried version here and my husband's new found obsession with them.  Finding them fresh was quite a treat and I gave them to Jason as a present!

As you can see the borlotti pods and beans, also known as cranberry beans or roman beans are a beautiful mottled cranberry red and off-white color.  They have a slightly nutty flavor which works great with the nuttiness of the farro.

Browsing at Crate & Barrel the other day I saw a recipe for a borlotti bean and farro soup in a tuscan cook book which inspired this dish.  I did some online searching and created a hybrid of recipes I saw along with the availability of what was in my fridge at the time, which included the fresh borlotti beans!

If you do not have fresh borlotti beans, you can always use dried beans.  Soak them overnight and then simmer for an 1 - 1 1/2 hours until tender.  You may have to adjust some of the cooking times in this recipe, I feel like the fresh beans took a little longer to tenderize during the first part of this recipe, than if I had used cooked dried beans.  However, as with most soup recipes, times and quantities are approximate, adjust as you see fit!

Recipe...

Farro Risotto

J has been talking for weeks about wanting to make a risotto using farro instead of the usual arborio rice.  The dish has been tasted by him, me, my mother and one of my co-workers and everyone gave it rave reviews!

The farro is nutty and earthy, and yet consistency-wise the dish comes off much lighter than the typical risotto.  The shiitake mushrooms went perfectly with the farro and this was a great way to use the Upton's Naturals Italian Sausage-Style Seitan we picked up at the co-op. 

FARRO RISOTTO

1 1/4 cups farro
32 oz homemade chicken stock (or vegetable stock for an entirely vegetarian dish)
1 - 2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 large spanish onion diced
6 oz shiitake mushrooms sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 tsp dried herbs de provence
pinch (abt 1/2 tsp) crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 package (4 oz) Upton's Naturals Italian Style Sausage-Seitan
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano
large handful chopped parsley
salt and pepper
squeeze fresh lemon

In a small sauce pan, warm the stock over low heat.

In a large pan, heat oil over medium/medium-high heat.  Add onions, salt and pepper lightly and sautee until translucent.

Add shiitake mushrooms and garlic, stirring while sauteeing for about 3 more minutes or until the mushrooms start to wilt.

Add farro and continue cooking for about 4 minutes.  Add white wine and cook until wine almost entirely evaporates.

One ladleful at a time, add the stock to the farro mixture and stir until liquid is almost absorbed.  Continue adding stock 1 ladle at a time, allowing the farro to absorb most of the liquid until the farro puffs up and breaks the husk, taste for consistency.  For this recipe we used all but almost 1 ladleful of the 32 oz.

Midway through adding the stock, add the red pepper flakes and herbs de provence.

Near the end, in a separate sautee pan, brown the italian sausage-style seitan.

When farro is desired consistency, remove from heat, stir in the cheese, parsley, 1 Tbsp butter and seitan.

Salt and pepper to taste and add a squeeze of lemon!