Got this recipe nailed.
Boiled a couple chicken breasts in water (with bay leaves, a little bit of tarragon***, some Better than Bouillon Chicken base and lots of black pepper) to make a broth. Removed bay leaves and chix breasts and let everything cool. Washed and pre-soaked the pearled barley. This prep time was about 45 minutes including thawing out the chicken breasts (hot tap water).
Went and did something else for three hours (cleaned out the garage, hung out with the critters and worked on the music room project).
Skimmed the crud off the broth and shredded the chicken, added a chopped onion, a big teaspoon of Marmite (pure Umami bomb - here and here), chopped celery, two cans of diced 'maters, the chicken and the barley.
Got this up to a low simmer and went and did email and some surfing for an hour. Come back, adjust and dinner was ready.
The new apples are starting to come in so did a Waldorf salad with Honeycrisp, Pecans and Crasins with a bit of lemon juice and mayo.
Mmmmmm - Food coma...
*** Tarragon - I do mean a very little bit. I made a gallon of soup today and used about a half teaspoon. If you can taste the soup and think: "Hmmm - Tarragon" you used too much. A little bit adds a lot of flavor without being overpowering. It balances the Umami very nicely.
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