Baked Barley with Shiitake Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 4 ½ cups chopped onions (3 medium)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 cups sliced button mushrooms
• 3 cups sliced shiitake mushroom caps
• 1 ½ cups uncooked pearl barley
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ⅛ tsp dried thyme
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• fresh thyme sprigs

Method

1. Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat
2. Add onion and sugar; cover and cook 25 minutes until golden brown, stirring often
3. Add mushrooms. Cook 10 minutes or until browned, stirring often
4. Add barley. Cook 2 minutes, stirring often
5. Remove from heat. Stir in soy sauce, salt, pepper and thyme
6. Preheat oven to 350
7. Bring broth to a boil in a medium saucepan.
8. Pour broth over barley mix. Cover and bake for 1 hour until barley is tender.
9. Let stand 10 minutes. Garnish with thyme sprigs