Canadian Thanksgiving

Canadian Thanksgiving is a much less stressful affair than the American version. Generally we clean out the garage, tune up the snowblower, close up the cottage — enjoy the fall colors and the fresh air before holing up inside for the long snowy winter.

At the end of the day — Sunday or Monday, there's no set rule — a simple meal of turkey and vegetables is served, maybe with a pumpkin or apple pie to finish. At least, that's how it was at my house.

This year, Larry and I celebrated Thanksgiving on Monday evening with a pumpkin stuffed with mushrooms and barley, the last harvest of green beans from our garden, a salad of crunchy lettuce with pistachios and red grapes, and an apple quince pie for dessert.

As we ate, we thought with gratitude of the organic farmers at the Hollywood Farmers Market who provided us with this bounty.

There are various ways to stuff a pumpkin. Usually I fill it with a grain pilaf and then bake it an hour or so until it is tender.

This year, however, I was late in from the garden, so I scooped out the pumpkin and baked it while I simmered the barley mushroom stuffing on the stove. Unfortunately, I baked it too long so it became soft and lost its shape. No matter, I filled it with the cooked pilaf and it made a lovely, if slightly lopsided, main course.

The mushroom barley pilaf is a delicious fall supper that is great even without the pumpkin.

Mushroom Barley Pilaf
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, sliced
3/4 lb assorted mushrooms (shiitake, oyster, cremini), cleaned and sliced thinly
1 1/2 cups barley
4 sprigs thyme
3/4 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups vegetable stock or water (I used 1 1/2 cups of my strong stock and 3 cups water)

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, carrot, celery and mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms start to brown.

Add the barley and stir to coat with the pan juices. Then pour in the stock, add the thyme and salt, and a liberal amount of freshly ground pepper.

Cover the skillet and let the pilaf simmer over low heat for about 40 minutes until the barley is tender. Keep an eye on it, and add more water if it gets dry. The barley should hold its shape and be al dente when done — not mushy.

Serves 4

Note: If you are serving vegans, replace the unsalted butter with olive oil. It will still be delicious. I do prefer mushrooms in butter, though.

Bean and Barley Salad

It was hot on Sunday but I was determined that we would eat lunch outside.

So as the main course I served a chilled bean and barley salad. Fresh herbs added zest to the complete protein of beans and grains. I had planned to scatter feta over the top, but I forgot. It was still yummy. (I would have used about 2oz diced feta.)

Barley is best known as a soup grain, but it makes a lovely salad — more interesting and less dry than rice.

This salad is also good with black beans. And the herbs and vegetables can be swapped out for whatever is in your fridge.

The salad lasts well for a few days - I'll be eating the leftovers for lunch this week.

Bean and Barley Salad
2/3 cup chickpeas or other beans (or 2 14-oz cans)
1 cup barley
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped mint
1/2 cup diced celery
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1 tsp grated lemon rind
3 tbsp lemon juice

Cook the chickpeas until tender. (In a pressure cooker it will take 22 minutes. In a pot of boiling water, 2-3 hours.) Drain and set aside to cool. (Or drain and rinse the canned beans.)

Cook barley in simmering water until tender, about 45 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine cherry tomatoes, cucumber, garlic, parsley, mint, celery and red onion. Stir in the chickpeas and barley. Toss with the lemon rind and juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper (more salt than you might think — the barley can take a lot).

Chill until ready to serve.

Garnish with watercress, nasturtium flowers and feta if desired.

Summer Barley Salad

I usually think of barley as a winter food - great in soups and stews. But the other day I used it in a salad that tasted of early summer - full of cherry tomatoes and peas and fresh dill.

This ancient grain is soothing to the digestive tract, balancing to the blood sugar, and healing to the heart. It makes a nice change from brown rice, and takes about the same time to cook. Buy barley at the health food store - it should be a brownish color and will be called pot barley. The pearl barley at the supermarket is whiter and more refined - meaning more of its goodness has been removed.

However, when you're eating this salad, you won't be thinking of the health benefits because you'll be too busy enjoying the flavors.

Summer Barley Salad
3/4 cup barley
3 cups frozen corn
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes
1 stalk celery
2 spring onions
3 tbsp chopped fresh dill
3 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon

Cook the barley in 2 1/2 cups boiling water, covered, until the grain is tender and the water is absorbed, about 45 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Steam the corn and peas for about 3 minutes until tender. Halve the cherry tomatoes and dice the celery. Slice both the white and green parts of the spring onions. Combine the vegetables, dill and barley in a large bowl. Stir in the olive oil and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and extra lemon juice as desired.

Serves 4-6

Barley and Mustard Greens

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving Monday night with a harvest risotto of barley, butternut squash, and purple mustard greens.

Canadian Thanksgiving is much less of an ordeal - er, celebration - than the U.S. version. It's the last three-day weekend before winter sets in, so people clean out their garages, test the snow blower, put up the winter bird feeders, and enjoy the colorful fall leaves and crisp air. Dinner is turkey (at least it was at my house). When I became a vegetarian, Mum added a stuffed pumpkin to the table.

This year, Larry used the Columbus Day holiday to clean out the garage. I puttered in the garden. And then we gathered in the kitchen to stir up dinner.

Risotto is usually made with arborio rice, but I read it could be made with barley, which felt more Canadian (even though most Canadian barley is fed to beef). Barley is a nutritional powerhouse which balances blood sugar, lowers cholesterol and improves cardiovascular health.

The purple greens and orange squash were stunning as I added them to the pot, but the purple faded to green as it cooked. Still beautiful, with that little kick that mustard greens have. You could substitute any greens, but boil tougher ones like collard greens and kale separately to be sure they're well cooked and not bitter.

You won't need a whole butternut squash. Keep the leftover piece (with its peel intact) well-wrapped in the fridge for a few days to use in soup or stews.

Risotto requires constant attention. This recipe might have worked if I had just boiled everything together, but Larry and I enjoy the companionship of cooking risotto. There's something about gathering in the kitchen around a simmering pot that makes us feel thankful.

Barley Risotto with Mustard Greens and Butternut Squash
4-5 cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup pearled barley (the brown kind from the health food store)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup butternut squash in 1/4 - 1/2 inch dice
1 bunch mustard greens, washed, stemmed, and chopped
salt and pepper

Bring the vegetable broth to a boil in a covered saucepan. Keep it barely simmering on low.

Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart pot over medium heat. Add the onion and barley and cook, stirring often, about five minutes until the barley is lightly golden and aromatic. The oil will be absorbed and you'll be dry-roasting the barley in the pan.

Add the garlic and cook another minute. Then stir in 1/2 cup hot broth. Stir until it is absorbed, then add another cup along with the butternut squash. Keep adding 1/2 cup broth as it gets absorbed. Stir regularly. (This is where I always worry the squash will never cook, but it does.)

After 10 minutes, add the greens, stirring the barley up from the bottom and onto the greens so that the heat compresses them down into the dish.

Keep adding broth and stirring as needed for another 20-25 minutes. The barley will be chewy, and then will suddenly soften and become toothsome. Add 1/2 tsp salt and many grinds of black pepper. Taste, season more as needed, and serve.

Serves 4

Happy Thanksgiving.

Watercress and Barley Soup

It's easy to get stuck in the brown rice rut. Yet there are so many other great grains to eat. Recently I've been diversifying the grain in our diet, and have re-discovered the pleasure of barley.

I made barley soup last week to welcome my mother who’s visiting from Montreal.

Travelling can leave one slightly queasy, and barley is good for settling upset stomachs. I remember as a child being given barley sugar sweets to ease carsickness. And babies are traditionally fed barley water for colic.

Barley also provides long-term health benefits. A US Department of Agriculture study shows that the soluble fiber in barley reduces cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol (especially the bad LDL). Barley also helps balance blood sugar.

Just as you can buy brown rice or white rice, you can buy hulled or pearled barley.

Hulled barley is less processed, with only the tough outer hull removed. At my local health food store I found Health Best organic hulled barley (also called whole barley or scotch or pot barley). This has the bran intact, like brown rice. It’s more nutritious, a little chewier, and takes a little longer to cook than pearled barley.

Arrowhead Mills makes an organic pearled barley which has the bran shaved off so it has a little less fiber, but is still nutritious. (And honestly, to me it looks the same as the Health Best hulled barley.) Regular supermarket pearled barley is just the small white starchy center of the grain - don’t bother with it.

Barley takes between 45 and 60 minutes to cook. The way to know when it's done is to taste a grain.

This is the sprightly spring soup I served my mother. The watercress enhances the lemony taste, but you could substitute arugula or spinach if necessary.

A lot of the flavor comes from the vegetable stock. Chop the greens finely just before adding to the soup to conserve nutrients and keep their fresh flavor.

Watercress Barley Soup
2 tbsp olive oil
10 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup hulled barley
4 cups water or vegetable stock (I used 2 cups stock and 2 cups water)
2 cups finely chopped watercress (leaves and stems)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Sauté garlic in olive oil until lightly browned. Add barley and stock. Simmer until the barley is tender but still a little chewy, about an hour. At this point it can wait until you’re ready to eat. Then reheat the soup, adding extra water if necessary. Stir in the watercress and lemon juice, and cook for five minutes until the greens are soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 3-4 as a meal.