Also just stumbled upon this recipe for an Italian Vegetable Barley Stew:
http://nouveaupotato.blogspot.de/2012/03/italian-vegetable-barley-stew.html
Ingredients
6 cups of potatoes, chopped into 1 inch cubes
2 cups of green beans
3 cups of kale, chopped
1 tin of crushed, stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup of celery, chopped
1 cup of pearl barley
1 large onion
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 L vegetable stock
250 ml water
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil
salt
black pepper
crushed red pepper flakes
Method
Put the water and vegetable stock into a large soup pot and bring to medium heat. In a separate smaller pot, boil the chopped potatoes in water. In a large skillet, sauté the garlic and onion in olive oil, but don't let them brown. Add the pearl barley next, toasting it slightly as you would for risotto. Then add the celery, green beans and kale in that order, giving everything a light sauté.
As the vegetables begin to soften, transfer all the contents of the skillet to the soup pot, then add the tomatoes. Add the potatoes to the pot when they are soft and cooked through. Then add salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to taste. Simmer everything together for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. In the last 15 minutes, add the juice of one lemon.
To serve, garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, chopped fresh parsley or grated parmesan. Enjoy!
Makes about 4 servings.
It was really tasty, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a great stew.
