Chicken and barley stew – another one for the slow cooker

Chicken and barley stew

Have you every paid $5 for a potato? No? I thought it was pretty insane too but that’s the price people were prepared to pay for a fancy potato spiral on a stick at the Racecourse Road carnival yesterday. The potatoes are cut using one of those spiral apple corer/peelers, threaded onto a stick and then deep-fried. They look absolutely delicious and really I’m just jealous that I didn’t think of a way to sell a single potato for $5! There were lots of other delicious goodies at the carnival too, from churros to tacos and German sausages to the most delicious smelling strawberries I’ve ever seen.

I was very glad I left my wallet at home or I fear I might have come home with a lot less money and a few extra kilograms. I guess that’s the fun of a carnival.

Chicken and barley stew

For just a little bit more than the $5 I could have spent on a potato, I made chicken and barley stew. The slow cooker is well and truly back in action in our house. Another thing I love about it is how few ingredients you need to make something so delicious. Barley is a great one to add to the slow cooker, or any stew or casserole because it bulks up and makes the meal go further.

Rosemary, thyme and sage give this stew a wonderful flavour and your house will smell amazing while it’s cooking. Make up a big batch and freeze it in individual portions and you’ll have a winter warming dinner ready for whenever you come in from the cold.

The ingredients

Barley and chicken

This recipe is as simple as it gets in the slow cooker – no searing or pre-cooking necessary. All you have to do is pour in the barley and layer the chicken on top. You can really use any cut of chicken you like but I prefer to use breast.

Almost ready

On top of the chicken and barley, add the carrot, celery, onion and garlic and spread it out nicely.

The finishing touch

Then cover the pot with the herbs. You can substitute the dry herbs with fresh herbs if you prefer. I used fresh oregano (instead of thyme) and rosemary because I had it in the garden.

Ready to slow-cook away

Pour in enough chicken stock to cover everything by at least 1cm. I used 6 cups of stock and the end result had very little liquid. If you would like it more like a soup, add a bit more stock. Put the lid on and cook it all on low for 5 hours. After the time is up, remove the chicken and shred it up with a fork then return it to the slow cooker. Put the lid on and cook it for another hour on low.

Chicken and barley stew

Serve the stew piping hot, sprinkled with Italian parsley with some warm crusty bread. Enjoy!

So what about you? What have you recently seen that had an outrageous price tag?

Chicken and barley stew

Chicken and barley stew in the slow cooker

recipe from Lucy Dylan weddings

serves 5

• 250g pearl barley
• 1 large chicken breast cut in 3 (500g)
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Salt, to taste
• 2 tbsp. fresh Italian parsley, chopped to serve
• 6 cups chicken stock

Pour the barley into the bottom of the slow cooker and place the chicken pieces on top.

Add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic and then sprinkle over the herbs and spices.

Pour the chicken stock into the pot and put the lid on.

Set it to cook on low for 5 hours.

Take the lid off and remove the chicken pieces then use a fork to shred them up.

Return them to the pot and stir it all together.

Check the barley. If still not tender, put the lid back on and cook on low for another hour.

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