Make a vegetable inventory by pouring 500ml of boiling water from the kettle over 1 tbsp of dried mushrooms. Deliver a deep pan of water to the boil then rain in 250g of pearl barley and produce it again to the boil. Decrease the warmth to a simmer and let it prepare dinner for 25-Half-hour until the grains are tender. They need to nonetheless have a pleasingly chewy high quality. Drain and set aspect.
Peel and roughly chop a medium-sized onion. Heat 4 tbsp of olive oil in a casserole or high-sided frying pan. Stir within the onion and depart to melt over a average warmth with the odd stir. After 20-25 minutes it needs to be pale gold. Peel and crush 2 cloves of garlic and proceed cooking for one more couple of minutes.
Finely slice 600g of various mushrooms (cut up them into agency and tender relying on what varieties you're utilizing). Add the mushrooms and canopy the pan with a lid. Cook dinner till the mushrooms are golden, including slightly extra oil as crucial. Stir in 1 tbsp of tomato purée, prepare dinner for two minutes, then stir in 1 heaped tbsp of plain flour.
Add the dried mushrooms and their soaking water and produce to the boil then decrease the warmth, season with salt, black pepper and ½ tsp of dried chilli flakes.
Stir within the cooked barley and proceed cooking for 7-8 minutes. Tear up a handful of basil leaves. Add the basil and any fragile mushrooms you stored to 1 aspect. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon and stir in, slightly at a time, tasting as you go. Serve in shallow bowls. Sufficient for 4
Dried porcini are costly however you should buy baggage of blended dried mushrooms – usually damaged items – at an inexpensive value. Their deep umami goes a great distance; you solely want 1 tbsp of dried mushrooms to present you 500ml of wealthy, bosky inventory.
Wheat berries can be an attention-grabbing substitute for the barley, however take longer to prepare dinner – about 40 minutes.
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