Skillet Mushrooms and Chard With Barley or Brown Rice
- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 1cup barley or brown rice
- 1quart water
- Salt to taste
- 1generous bunch Swiss chard or rainbow chard
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon lemon- or mushroom-scented olive oil
- 1pound mushrooms, trimmed and cut in thick slices
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- 1teaspoon roughly chopped fresh thyme leaves
- Freshly ground pepper
- ½cup barley water
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
286 calories; 9 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 46 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 9 grams protein; 1288 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
- Step 1
Combine the barley or rice and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste, reduce the heat and simmer the barley for 1 hour, brown rice for 35 to 40 minutes, or until tender. Set a strainer over a bowl and drain the grains. Retain the cooking water.
- Step 2
While the grains are cooking, stem the chard and wash thoroughly in two changes of water. Chop coarsely. If the stalks are merely thick, dice them; if they are stringy, discard them.
- Step 3
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat in a large, wide skillet or wok. Add the mushrooms and chard stems, if using, and cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms sear and begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the chard and raise the heat to high. Cook, stirring, until the chard wilts, which shouldn’t take more than 3 minutes (you may have to add the chard in batches, depending on the size of your pan). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Step 4
Once the chard has wilted, add .75 cup of the cooking water from the rice or barley. Cover and simmer over low heat for 3 minutes, or until the chard is tender. Uncover, stir and if you wish to have more sauce with the vegetables, add more cooking water from the grains and stir until it reduces to the desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning. Drizzle on the remaining oil and serve with the grains.
- Advance preparation: You can cook both the grains and the vegetables several hours ahead and reheat. Retain some barley water or rice water to add to the dish if desired. The cooked grains will keep for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator, but the cooking water will keep for only a couple of days.
Private Notes
Comments
2nd time to make this dish. Used both oil and butter for the sauté and added chopped onions. replaced half of the cooking liquid with red wine. Sparked the dish up quite nicely. I'll likely add red pepper flakes next time.
With some of the enhancements suggested by others ( onion, red pepper flakes, red wine, sprinkle of feta), this is a delicious weeknight meal and good way to use barley, which I normally only use in soups. Cant wait to make it again.
Made it last night. Underwhelming. Added some dried cranberries; better but still missing something to make it greater than the sum of its parts.
Skipped the barley and made polenta instead. Heaven!!
Based on comments about the blandness, I made some changes that I think added flavor and substance. It turned out to be a delicious Meatless Monday surprise. I made a mirepoix of 1 of each: diced carrot, celery stalk and onion. after slightly browned I added one chopped zucchini and cooked until softened. Doubled the garlic. I set aside the veggie mix in a separate bowl, added more butter and garlic to the skillet and browned the mushrooms. Once cooked, I added 1/2 c of Reconstituted dried wild mushrooms, which I chopped. Then I mixed in 1 cup of leftover mushroom broth. And I added 2 Tb of sherry and let the liquid cook & evaporate about 5 minutes. I added the zucchini veggie mix back to the pan. It was really good and hearty. Oh, BTW, I didn’t have any greens in hand, and hence the veggies. I would definitely make again.
@Michelle in Chicago I forgot to add a few more ingredients, fresh thyme, and herbs. De Provence all gave it excellent flavor.
I made this with some quick pearled barley I had in the cabinet. The barley cooked in less than 15 minutes, rather than needing an hour. While the quick pearled barley cooks, you can cut the chard and do the cooking in Step 3, making this a fast dish that suitable for a weeknight. Following the advice of the other commenters, I added butter, red wine, and red pepper flakes, and this is good recipe but it needs something else (sausage? More mushrooms?) to make it a main course.