Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you go
Serves 6
- 350 g (12 oz) chicken pieces (optional)
- 1 marrow bone or 1 oxtail (optional)
- 500 g (1.1 lb) sliced mushrooms (including, if possible, 50 g (1.75 oz) dried porcini)
- 150 g (¾ cup) pearl barley (soaked for 1 hour beforehand, if you like)
- 2 large carrots, sliced into rounds
- 1 potato, diced
- 1 turnip or kohlrabi, diced
- 1 small stalk celery, thinly sliced
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsp chopped parsley
- 2 Tbsp goose fat (or neutral oil)
- Salt, pepper (preferably white)
- In a bowl, cover the dried porcini with warm water (a little more than enough to cover them) and let them rehydrate for about 10 minutes. In a Dutch oven, sauté the finely sliced onion in the goose fat (or oil), along with the chicken if you’re using it. Meanwhile, rinse the pearl barley well (after soaking it beforehand, if you chose to). Cut the carrots, celery, potato and turnip into small cubes and slice the mushrooms (except the dried porcini, which I keep whole).
- Add them to the pot along with the bone, first salted with coarse salt on both sides (if you want to keep the marrow inside), and sauté for 10 minutes. Finally, add the barley with about 5 times its volume of water, including the porcini soaking water, plus the salt and pepper. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour, adding a little water if needed depending on the consistency you want. Turn off the heat and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.
Tips and variations
- Some people make this recipe with poultry, especially giblets (necks, wings, gizzards…).
- The vegetables can vary too (leeks…); traditionally, large white beans are added as well, in which case you need to soak them the night before and adjust the cooking time accordingly.
- If you’re in Israel, oxtail is easy to find. To learn more, see meat in Israel