Another random creation

There was not much time and there was absolutely no desire to go shopping for food. And there's a meal to be had tomorrow, of course. So I made do with what was lying around. I think it's pretty good, while Derek considers my reasonably tasty creation just food. He's too used to junk. Ha. He got a pile of ravioli with cheese yesterday, so now it's my turn to choose.

I cooked a risotto. With no rice. I used barley because it's healthier and because I had some lying around. The rest of the meal consists of butternut squash, champignon mushrooms and shallots. And half a Knorr cube of that chicken non-goodness (bouillon) because I had to quickly come up with something that would add some moisture and wouldn't be water.

So here's the recipe of today's goodness:

1 small box of champignon mushrooms. If I recall correctly, those are about 225 grams, or around 8 ounces for the metric-challenged.

1 small butternut squash, diced (mine was around 400 grams / 14 ounces) 

2 bigger shallots. Or at least I believe the two I used were big.

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 tablespoon of white truffle oil

1/2 buillon cube dissolved in about half a cup of water. Or more. Or whatever.

3/4 cup raw barley

Some salt, pepper and dried chives.

Chop shallots, throw on a teflon pan along with olive oil. Add the squash. Cover. Stir. Add mushrooms after  a while. Stir every now and then. Cook barley separately - boil some arbitrary amount of water, add salt, add rinsed and drained barley. Cook until satisfied, whatever that is. Drain, set aside. (If you're me, weigh the pile, too. You can never be sure, right? My pile of cooked barley weighed 260 grams, just for the record.) Check the main part of the dish. Stir. Add chives. Add some of the buillon. Stir. Add truffle oil. Try some. Decide if it's good; if it isn't - adjust to taste. Eventually mix barley and the vegetables together. Pour in more buillon if it seems dry. Take a photo. Throw back into the pot. Put a lid on. Save for tomorrow.

Easy, right? 

It feeds three, I think. We'll have nothing but this, though. If served as a side dish, it could be for four or even five people. 905 calories in the pile. Around 300 for a meal... not bad. Actually, probably not even enough. Oops?