Barley with Roasted Radishes and Tarragon Butter

Posted on Feb 3, 2013 by PeggyPrint Recipe Only | Email Recipe | 4 Comments
Filed under: All Recipes, Vegetarian Pin It
Barley with Roasted Radishes and Tarragon Butter

Trolling the wine trail on Old Mission Peninsula.

Just returned home from an Up North retreat with girlfriends: camaraderie, cross-country skiing and wine tasting on Old Mission Peninsula were some of the highlights. Most of us are passionate cooks — some having made it our livelihoods — so we eschewed the great restaurants in the area, preferring to scratch-cook our dinners and enjoy them by the fire.

We divvied up meals to prepare, and the dinner I’d planned was a favorite, yet relatively simple, Chicken and Radish recipe. My plans were thwarted when the other enthusiastic cooks brought enough incredibly delicious food to feed an army. I ended up using the chicken for poached chicken sandwiches, carting home the tarragon and radishes.

Craving grains, I decided to make a dish with barley. The result (recipe below) scratched my itch; the butter adding to its lusciousness, but you may substitute with olive oil, if desired, to cut saturated fat. I love the slight cauliflower flavor of radishes when roasted, and the licorice hint of tarragon adds to its depth of flavor.

I made extra tarragon butter, and froze it for last minute seasonings on quickie fish and chicken dishes.

Recipe: Barley with Roasted Radishes and Tarragon Butter

Ingredients

  • 1 uncooked cup pearl barley
  • 2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 4 teaspoons fresh chopped tarragon, divided
  • 2 pounds radishes, cleaned and trimmed
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. In a medium-sized pot, bring barley and 2 1/2 cups stock to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer; cook, covered, until tender and the liquid has been absorbed, 40 to 50 minutes. Combine 2 teaspoons tarragon with butter and stir tarragon butter into cooked barley, season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Let sit, covered, 5-10 minutes.
  3. While barley is cooking, cut radishes in half lengthwise (leaving small ones whole) and toss with olive oil. Spread on baking sheet, sprinkle with kosher salt, and place on middle rack of oven. Roast radishes for 10 minutes. Open oven and shake pan for even browning. Continue roasting 8-10 minutes, or until crisp-tender.
  4. Toss roasted radishes with remaining 2 teaspoons fresh tarragon and serve atop cooked barley.

Number of servings (yield): 3-4 main courses servings

Active Time: 20 minutes (conducted while barley is cooking)

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Copyright © Peggy Lampman’s dinnerFeed.

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4 Responses to Barley with Roasted Radishes and Tarragon Butter

  1. Poohbah says:
    February 4, 2013 at 9:55 am

    Loved your recipe for sauteed chicken with radishes in mustard tarragon sauce. In it, the radishes were sauteed in butter and olive oil with a little salt and pepper. Their cooking time amounted to about 11 minutes and they were delicious! Could that cooking technique be used for this recipe?

    One of the local stores is having a sale on daikon radishes. Could these be used instead of the “regular” radishes?

    Reply
    • Peggy says:
      February 4, 2013 at 1:32 pm

      I don’t see why it couldn’t? Let me know if that time works for you, Poobah!

      Reply
      • Poohbah says:
        February 11, 2013 at 9:07 am

        I tried the daikon radishes. Chose two pieces each about the size of a carrot. Sliced them into rounds approx 3/4-in thick. Sauteed them in a single layer in butter/olive oil mixture (with s/p) at medium-high heat. It didn’t take long for them to brown up nicely — 4 minutes for the first side, 3 for the second. But….. The flavor of the daikons was disappointing! Very bland. They really needed some “spicing up.” Still I’m anxious to try this cooking technique on some of those super-sized radishes we get in the summer.

        Reply
  2. Peggy says:
    February 11, 2013 at 9:32 am

    thanks for the update – never used the daikon radishes – used the standard fare red, round ones, which provided a mellow kick. the summer radishes will be awesome!

    Reply

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