I’m gonna just throw this out in the open. This dish is very fugly looking. Don’t cook it if you’re trying to impress on a first date. On the other hand, it’s also so comforting and tasty. So maybe reserve it for that date night when you stop feeling uncomfortable parading your ugliest, but coziest, sweatpants in front of your significant other. Or, you know, just keep a batch around for those weeknights when you’re too zonked to even consider cooking. Trust me – you’ll thank yourself on any Wednesday evening for having sense enough to whip this up on a lazy Sunday.

INGREDIENTS:

(Yields 6 servings / 0.63 EUR per serving / 3.78 EUR for all)

2 tbsp sunflower seed oil (0.01 EUR)

1 large onion (0.10 EUR)

Small chunk of bacon (0.67 EUR)

500 grams of portobello mushrooms (2.00 EUR)

3 garlic cloves (0.10 EUR)

1 large tomato (0.27 EUR)

½ cup millet (0.40 EUR)

½ cup pearl barley (0.07 EUR)

1 tsp salt (0.01 EUR)

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper (0.01 EUR)

1 bay leaf (0.01 EUR)

2 ½ cups water (–)

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley (0.13 EUR)

METHOD:

Finely dice all of the vegetables and bacon. Halve and slice the mushrooms. Place a large skillet on high heat to warm up. Add oil, then saute onion for a few minutes until softened. Add in bacon and cook to crisp up. Gradually add in sliced mushrooms to cook them down. It probably looks like you have an enormous amount overflowing your skillet, but those will cook down in just minutes.

When mushrooms have cooked down, add in garlic, tomato, millet, barley, salt, pepper, bay leaf and water. Stir to combine, bring to a boil, immediately reduce heat to low and cook with a lid cracked open for 25-30 minutes, until barley is cooked through. Fluff up with a fork and serve sprinkled with fresh parsley.

This dish reheats and freezes great, so do yourself a big favor and stock up.

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Biti ću iskrena sa vama: ovo jelo izgleda užasno grdo. Nemojte ga kuhati da nekog impresionirate na prvom spoju. S druge strane, jako je fino. Pa ga možda spremite za večeri kada vam prestane biti neugodno pred boljom polovicom defilirati u vašoj najružnijoj i najudobnijoj trenirci. Ili jednostavno imajte zalihu za dane u tjednu kada ste prekrepani da i pomislite na kuhanje. Vjerujte mi – reći ćete si jedno veliko hvala u srijedu navečer što ste bili dovoljno mudri da si ovo skuhate u lijenu nedjelju.

SASTOJCI:

(Za 6 porcija / 4,73 kn po porciji / 28,36 kn za sve)

2 žlice suncokretovog ulja (0,10 kn)

1 veliki luk (0,75 kn)

Mali komadić špeka (5,00 kn)

500 g šampinjona (15,00 kn)

3 češnja češnjaka (0,75 kn)

1 velika rajčiuca (2,00 kn)

½ šalice prosa (3,00 kn)

½ šalice ječmene kaše (0,50 kn)

1 žličica soli (0,01 kn)

½ žličice svježe mljevenog crnog papra (0,05 kn)

1 lovorov list (0,20 kn)

2 ½ šalice vode (–)

2 žlice sjeckanog svježeg peršina (1,00 kn)

PRIPREMA:

Fino nasjeckajte svo povrće i špek. Raspolovite i narežite gljive na listiće. Stavite veliku tavu na jaku vatru i pustite da se ugrije. Dodajte u tavu ulje pa kratko popržite luk da omekša. Ubacite špek i dinstajte ga dok se ne zahrska. Postepeno dodajte i kuhajte gljive da iz njih izađe većina tekućine. Možda će vam se učiniti da imate enormnu količinu gljiva u tavi, ali će se one brzo iskuhati i smanjiti u volumenu.

Kada su gljive gotove, dodajte češnjak, rajčicu, proso, ječam, sol, papar, lovorov list i vodu. Dobro promiješajte, pustite da zavrije pa smanjite vatru na skroz lagano. Kuhajte sa odškrinutim poklopcem 25-30 minuta, dok se ječam skroz ne skuha. Vilicom raštrkajte i poslužite posipano svježim peršinom.

Ovo se jelo super podgrijava i smrzava, pa si napravite veliku uslugu i nakuhajte veću zalihu.