Mushroom and Cannellini Ghoulash with Scarlet Barley

Submitted by Major Ryan Wikified by Drimble Wedge

No recipes for a while so here's last night's meal. It's only very slightly different from two recipes from [|Appetite for Reduction] which is an amazingly good vegan cookbook that I would recommend to anyone. The hit/miss ratio for things I've tried from this cookbook so far has been really impressive and most things are pretty quick and simple to make.

Timing-wise, I started the barley off first, chopped the veg up and got going on cooking the ghoulash after adding the beetroot to the barley. That seemed to work out for everything being ready to eat at the same time.

Mushroom and Cannellini Ghoulash

(Both this and the barley was enough for two as a main course)

• 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 12 medium sized chestnut mushrooms
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp chopped thyme
• 1 can cannellini beans
• 1/4 cup chopped dill
• salt and black pepper

In a large saucepan, sauté the onion in the oil for about seven minutes. Add the garlic and stir through, then add the mushrooms and a couple of pinches of black pepper and salt. Cook for a further five minutes.

Add the wine, broth, paprika and thyme. Turn the heat up and bring the mixture to a boil for about three minutes. Then turn the heat back down, add the beans and cook for a final five minutes. Serve over the barley, topped with the dill.

Scarlet Barley

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup pearl barley
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 beetroot, grated
• juice of half a lemon
• black pepper

Sauté the garlic in a small pan for about a minute. Add a pinch of black pepper and the bay leaf. Add the barley, broth and salt, cover and bring to the boil. Cook for about twenty minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally.

When the water has mostly been absorbed, add the beetroot and cook for a further twenty minutes on a very low heat, still stirring every so often. Finally, add the lemon juice and leave the mixture to sit off the heat for about ten minutes.

It came out looking like this: