Barley!

I have just discovered barley.  I mean, yes,  I knew it existed... vaguely... but I certainly didn't know what to do with it, or, if I'm to be completely honest, where exactly to find it in the grocery store.  It was just something I never thought about.  And now I know.  Barely is great!  It's filling, cheap, easy to cook, and healthy.  It is a resistant starch [see the tale end of my granola post] and has three times the dietary fiber as oatmeal.  Oh, and did I mention, it's tasty, too.

So... in an effort to cook more whole grains, lentils and the like, I set about adding barley to this evening's dinner (we were having rosemary chicken and there was spinach that needed to be cooked before it wilted away).  I found a base recipe and then made some adjustments that I deemed reasonable.  For instance, the recipe called for 1/2 cup of dry vermouth, an ingredient that I didn't have on hand, so I decided to substitute white wine.  Only when I fished around in the fridge for the bottle of white that I had opened the other day with friends, I discovered that we had done a better job on it then I had recalled; there was only a quarter cup of dregs to shake into my measuring cup.  Here is where I may not have made the best choice.  The recipe also called for 3 1/2 cups of chicken broth leaving my container with just a swish of broth left to refrigerator or chuck, so I topped off the quarter cup of wine with chicken broth and called it a fair measurement.  [The resultant barley was delicious, but also a bit more liquidy than desired.]

Enough about my imprecise methods, here's the recipe:

Barley with Spinach and Asparagus  (6 PointsPlus)

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup pearl barley
3 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry vermouth or white wine
1/2 teaspoon salt (or less, I used somewhat less)
1/2 pound asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups baby spinach
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Steps:

1. Heat oil in a fairly large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes.
2. Add barley, cook, stir, for about 1 minute.
3. Add broth, vermouth, and salt.  Bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 25 minutes.
4. Add spinach and asparagus to skillet, cooking, uncovered, for about 3 minutes.
5. Add zest and cheese.  Stir.  Serve.

Serving Size:

This makes a bit more than 4 servings.  Each serving is 1 cup and worth 6 PointsPlus.

Notes:

The barley is delicious, moist and risotto-like.  The overall dish, however, is very vegetable-y.  My boyfriend, who usually eats around the green things on his plate, felt that this was a good way to get in his daily veggies.  On the other hand, I felt that I might rather enjoy the barley with the spinach, but the asparagus separate, or vice verse.  I will further experiment with this.  The barley cooked just in the chicken broth, sans vegetables, would also be delicious.