Many of us naively believe that pearl barley is an invention exclusively Russian. By the way, our compatriots do not respect this inexpensive and nutritious product, dismissively referring to shrapnel. And they do it in vain. If you do not like pearl barley, you simply do not know how to cook it properly.
But only pearl barley porridge with mushrooms is worth something. I can’t say for sure, but in one of the culinary magazines I read that pearl barley with mushrooms is an invention of Italian cuisine and this wonderful porridge is called “perlotto” (apparently, in harmony with risotto). Whatever it was, but still allow myself to borrow this recipe for readers. You might like it too.
To prepare the dish we need a glass of cereal, 300 grams of mushrooms, one onion, 30 grams of butter and olive oil (a little more than a tablespoon in volume), 1/2 cup of cream with a fat content of 20%, 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Season the dish with pepper, salt and oregano.
Barley is washed under running water. Cut the mushrooms into slices and boil in one liter of water for no more than 10 minutes. Shred the onion, fry it in a pan until golden brown, add the mushrooms. Leave the broth for cooking cereals.
Add oil to the pan and add pearl barley. We warm it for a while, constantly stirring. Then gradually add mushroom broth so that it has time to absorb. A few minutes before cooking, add balsamic vinegar and onions with mushrooms. At the very end of cooking, add spices and cream, let the cereal completely absorb the liquid. Serve to the table with parsley.
I would like to say a few words in defense of this product. Barley with mushrooms is good both on its own and as a filling for baked vegetables. Stuffing in this way can be tomatoes, kohlrabi, zucchini and even bell pepper. In addition to cereals and mushrooms, onions, minced meat, and bacon are added to the filling. Thick sour cream, ghee, tomato sauce are suitable as a fill.
To make the dish cooked faster, it is recommended to pre-boil pearl barley until half cooked.
You can cook barley with mushrooms or meat not only on an open fire, but also in the oven. So it turns out more fragrant and soft.
The combination of barley and mushrooms is surprising not only in terms of taste and aroma, but also in terms of nutritional value. In addition, this combination of products is suitable, as they say, for any occasion. For example, soup with pearl barley and mushrooms can be prepared for Sunday dinner. There are quite a lot of recipes for pearl soups on the Internet, but I would like to recall such a popular dish as pickle. If you want to cook soup with meat broth, keep in mind that barley is best combined with beef.
The broth is cooked separately and filtered. The meat is placed in slices in each individual serving.
For 2 liters of broth we need half a glass of pearl barley, three large potatoes, one carrot, 4 medium-sized salted cucumbers, 1 onion, 150 grams of mushrooms.
Before cooking, grits should be soaked in cold water for a couple of hours. Then put the barley in the broth and cook for at least 20 minutes. We peel and chop potato tubers, add to the soup. Shred the onion, grate the carrots, cut the mushrooms into slices. We fry everything in vegetable oil for about 5 minutes, after which we add cucumbers and a little brine. Stew the vegetables until soft and add to the broth. A couple of minutes before readiness, add bay leaf, a glass of pickle from cucumbers and a few peas of black pepper.
In the preparation of pickle there are some subtleties that you need to consider if you want to get not just edible, but also a truly delicious soup.
Small cucumbers can simply be cut into small slices, but larger fruits are best cleaned from seeds. Thick-skinned cucumbers will also work, just rub them on a coarse grater.
Cucumbers are laid in the soup only when the potatoes are cooked completely.
If you want to season the soup with herbs, choose dill, celery or parsley.
The pickle should be allowed to stand under the lid for at least 20 minutes. After that, it can be poured on plates.
As you can see, pearl barley with mushrooms has many culinary variations and leaves the hostess wide scope for the experiment. Try ready-made recipes or come up with your own and give them a sonorous name. Let your branded recipes appear.