Category Archives: Grains

Mushroom & Barley Soup

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Well, well, well. The last weekend of April already. Two thirds of autumn already gone!

It’s really only started to feel autumnal in the last week or two, I think. We now leave home in the dark and come home in the dark. I put thick black tights on in the morning without worrying that I’m going to look like a dork if the day turns out to be a blaze of glorious and fiercely hot sunshine. Because now I know it’s not going to. It might end up sunny but it will not be warm. Reassuring on one hand, if a little depressing on the other.

The onset of autumn and winter means soup for lunch on Sundays for us. A few months ago, I started making an effort to cook a proper-ish meal for lunch on Sundays, and it’s becoming a nice little tradition. It’s usually soup or quiche or something, but it’s lovely to have something hot, and to sit down at the table with the Sunday paper’s crossword. Wow. I sound old. I mean, it’s great to sit down and listen to my new One Direction CD. That’s better, right?

I made this soup a couple of weeks ago. It really looks from the ingredients like it would be the blandest soup on earth, without any herbs etc, but it’s really tasty – and perfect for autumn. I’ve been putting pearl barley or soup mix in most of my soups lately -super cheap, super healthy, and makes the soup souper filling. If you haven’t come across it before, soup mix is a packet mix of split peas and pearl barley; it’s with the stock and soup stuff at the supermarket.

Enjoy your Sunday… and know it will be improved by soup.

Mushroom & Barley Soup
adapted from a recipe in Mindfood magazine

1 Tbsp olive oil
400g mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 potato, diced
5-6 cups chicken stock
½ cup white wine
½-¾ cup pearl barley or soup mix

Heat the oil in a large pot, and gently cook the mushrooms, onion, carrot, celery and potato until the onion softens. Add the stock and wine and bring to the boil. Add the pearl barley and simmer until the barley is tender (about 25 minutes). Season well and serve with crusty bread, and a dollop of unsweetened yoghurt.

Couscous with Grapes & Nuts

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My kitchen is in a calm before the storm. The advance Christmas cooking and baking is all out of the way. In another 4 days I’ll be preparing Christmas dinner itself. But in the meantime, we’re snacking on salads and lean barbecued meat. Specially with the weather turning out so nice this week, sharing the kitchen with a hot stove has not been a high priority.

This couscous salad-y dish has been on the menu a couple of times. It requires very little time and energy, and is a nice way to use the gorgeous seedless grapes we’re getting at the moment!

The recipe comes from The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives. I got this book for my birthday this year and I haven’t cooked a lot from it, but whatever I’ve cooked has turned out well. It’s a huge book so it will take me some time to cook my way through it ;)

Chilli Lemon Couscous with Nuts & Grapes
from Annabel Langbein’s Great Food for Busy Lives

Mix together 2 cups boiling water with finely grated rind of 1 lemon, 2 tsp Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce and 1 tsp salt. Add 2 cups couscous and leave to absorb for about 10 minutes. Fluff up with a fork, and mix in 1/2 cup toasted nuts (e.g. pine nuts, pistachios or almonds), 1/2 cup chopped mint or coriander (or a mix), and 1 cup chopped grapes. Serve as is, or if you prefer to heat it first, cover and microwave for 3-4 minutes just before serving.

I hope your lead-up to Christmas is going well and not too stressful!

Tabbouleh

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Me: OK, think of something to write about tabbouleh.

Me: Gotta make it sound fresh and interesting. OK.

Imaginary Pen: Tap, tap, tap.

[awkward silence]

Me: Well, let me think. It’s a salad. It has a filling cracked wheat component. You can take it to barbecues.

Brain: Yeah, loving all that fresh-and-interesting-ness.

Me: Do you have a better idea?

[awkward silence]

Me: I thought not. Maybe I’ll just let it speak for itself.

Brain: Mondays are hard.

Tabbouleh
Serves 6-ish 

1 cup bulgur/cracked wheat
4 spring onions
1 onion
3 tomatoes
1 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
½ cup chopped mint
¼ cup slivered almonds
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
large pinch chilli powder

Place the bulgur in a heatproof bowl, and pour boiling water over it (enough to cover the wheat). Place a plate or a lid on top and leave it for 15 minutes (like how you prepare couscous, just left for longer). Drain and rinse the wheat in cold water, drain again and set aside to cool.

Prepare the other salad vegetables – finely chop the spring onions and onion, dice the tomatoes and chop the herbs. If you’re using almonds (highly recommended), dry toast them until they’re just fragrant. Mix with the cooled wheat.

Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and chilli powder, and season to taste. Toss through the salad to coat and serve.

Side note: while I was thinking of things to write about tabbouleh, I googled it and came across this article on David Lebovitz’s site. Turns out this kind of tabbouleh bears little resemblance to the traditional Lebanese dish. Two thoughts – firstly, this salad is still nice and a dish worthy of being made anyway, secondly, let’s try the traditional Lebanese way next time :)

Beef Empanada Crumble & Pork and Almond Meatballs

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I wanted a couple of meat tapas dishes as the main attraction at my spanish tapas night. These pork and almond meatballs were A. Mazing. You should definitely try them. As for the planned beef empanadas… well, that dough wasn’t my friend. The details are below, but long story short, they … evolved… into a savoury crumble. Actually, it was pretty good. And I was pleased with my resourceful cooking. Who knows, maybe I’ll make this savoury crumble again one day, this time intentionally.

Beef Empanadas, or in my case, Beef Empanada Crumble

Dough:
1 cup plain flour
½ cup polenta (coarse or instant)
1 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup rice bran oil
a third to a half cup cold water or dry white wine

I made this dough recipe up from several sources – one of my guests was dairy and soy free, so couldn’t use any butter. And I don’t do deep frying. So I wanted something I could bake. I was careful to keep quantities in the same proportions of other recipes, but as you’ll see, the Empanada Dough God wasn’t smiling on me.

Blend the flour, polenta, sugar, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Add oil and a little of the water/wine gradually until the mixture becomes crumbly. Take off the food processor and knead with extra water/wine if needed, until the dough comes together. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour before using.

I got this far. I must admit I wasn’t entirely convinced it had ‘come together’, although it did feel ok. I put it in the fridge. After an hour, took it from the fridge. I dusted the bench with a little polenta. I turned the dough onto said bench. It was in no state to be rolled out. The plan had been to roll it out to 3mm thick, and cut out 8-10 circles, brush egg glaze around the edge of each circle, place a bit of filling in the centre (recipe below), and fold the circle in half, crimping the edges with a fork, brush the circle with egg glaze, and bake for about an hour.

But that dough wasn’t going anywhere. So I pressed it into a greased brownie pan. Not sure why, really. I baked that at about 175° for about 20 minutes I think, until it looked appropriately firm. Meanwhile, I made the delicious filling.

Beef & Spinach Filling: adapted from this Lauraine Jacobs recipe

150g beef mince
¼ a small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp grated fresh nutmeg
½ tomato, chopped
1½ Tbsp tomato paste
¼ cup dry sherry
½ long red chilli, chopped
300g packet frozen spinach portions, microwaved (3 mins on high) and chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Heat a large frying pan and cook the mince for about ten minutes, until crumbly and lightly browned. Add the onion, garlic and spices, and cook a little longer until the onion softens. Add tomato, tomato paste, sherry and chilli and cook over a high heat until the juices start to evaporate, and the mince is cooked through. Stir in the spinach and adjust the seasoning. I served the hot beef mixture with the still-hot polenta dough crumbled on top. The crumble had a great polenta taste and ‘grit’ to it – the dish was pretty tasty despite its deconstructed state.

Pork & Almond Meatballs

These were so good. The meatball recipe was adapted from a Taste magazine recipe I found here, and the dipping sauce is a variation on my basic pasta sauce.

Meatballs
150g pork mince
½ Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
finely grated zest of ½ a lemon
½ Tbsp chopped Italian parsley
15g finely chopped blanched almonds
1 small egg, lightly beaten
¼ tsp salt

Mix the mince, vinegar, garlic, lemon zest, parsley and almonds together. Add the eggs and salt. With damp hands, roll into small meatballs (canapé or cocktail size – edible in one bite). Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, bringing back to room temperature before baking at 200°, for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through.

Tomato Sauce
1 tsp olive oil
½ a small onion, very finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
¼ tsp smoked paprika
1 Tbsp tomato paste
4-5 fresh tomatoes, chopped (or use half a tin)
¼ tsp dried oregano
½ Tbsp red wine vinegar

Heat the oil in a frypan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, then add garlic and paprika. Stir in tomato paste and cook for a minute or so, then add tomatoes and oregano. Simmer gently for 10 minutes or so, then add the vinegar and adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve the meatballs with cocktail sticks and sauce on the side.

Slow Cooked Spicy Lamb with Pearl Barley

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I’m moving on from winter. I’ve seen daffodils and a lamb. I’ve even dried washing outside without needing to put woollen gloves on to hang it out.

So this is the last stew or casserole post for Quite Some Time. It’s a good one to end on. The photos don’t really do it justice, but this casserole was really good. Lamb so tender. Pearl barley so perfect a partner. Flavours so toasty yet fresh due to the lime and coriander.

I adapted this recipe from one in an old Mindfood magazine. I find it’s nicer made in a slow cooker, but you could cook it in the oven if you prefer.

Slow Cooked Spicy Lamb Casserole with Pearl Barley – Serves 2

1 Tbsp olive oil
about 400g diced lamb (e.g. from shoulder chops)
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
½  red capsicum, deseeded and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
½ tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp ground white pepper
½ tsp salt
½ tsp garlic flakes
½ tsp ground paprika
½ tsp dried thyme
400g tin chopped tomatoes
¼ cup beef stock
1 Tbsp olive oil, extra
½ cup pearl barley
1½ cups beef stock
1 lime, grated rind and ¼ cup juice
¼ cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped
extra coriander, to serve

Spray the slow cooker bowl with non-stick spray, and turn the slow cooker on HIGH to pre-heat. Heat half the oil in a large frypan, and cook half the lamb for 4-5 minutes, or until browned on all sides. Put this in the slow cooker bowl. Heat the remaining oil, brown the remaining lamb and add that to the slow cooker bowl too.


Put the frypan back on a medium heat, and gently cook the onion, capsicum and celery for a few minutes, until the onion softens. Stir in the black pepper, white pepper, salt, garlic flakes, paprika and thyme. Cook for 1 minute or until aromatic. It’s a shame this blog isn’t chronological; if it was I would have added a spoonful of my harissa paste at this point. Anyway, add the tomatoes and stock, bring to the boil and then transfer everything to the slow cooker. Put the lid on and cook for four hours on HIGH, or eight hours on LOW.

About 45 minutes before you want to eat, heat the second measure of olive oil in a saucepan. Add the pearl barley and cook for 2-3 minutes until the barley is coated in oil. Add the second measure of beef stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the barley is tender. Stir through the lime rind and juice, and coriander. Season with salt and pepper and spoon into serving dishes. Top with the lamb casserole and garnish with extra coriander (I may have forgotten to garnish so picture may not reflect instruction!). Voila!