Ingredients

• 1.5 cups of dry wheat berries
• 1 oz of dried, sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 1.5 tsp of "Better than Boullion mushroom base
  
  
• 6 oz of wood ear mushrooms
• 2-3 tbsp of butter
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

Notes

• Once I get the water amount and timing down right, this should be postable.
• On the second attempt I only used 4.5 cups of water for 2 cups of dry wheat berries.  That actually slowed the cooking time.  Next time around I should use a full 6 cups for 30 minutes, and reserve the broth for later cooking.

Adapted from:  www.vkusnyblog.com

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups of dry red wheat berries
• 1 or 2 cubes of vegetable bouillion
• Olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped coursely
• 1 pound of fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of pepper
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2/3 of a cup of half and half or heavy cream
• 10 tbsp of coarsely chopped parsley

Method

1. You will not use the crisper tray for this recipe.
2. Pour 4.5 cups of water in the pot along with a cube or two of your favorite bouillion.  Add dry wheat berries.  Steam for 30 minutes, but check them at 20. If you like their texture already, dump into strainer and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.
3. Slice the mushrooms in 2-4 pieces, depending on how big they are.
4. Pour in enough olive oil to barely cover the bottom of the pot.  Add the onions and mushrooms.  Saute/sear on Hi5, stirring every 3-5 minutes until the onions are almost translucent and then add the mushrooms and continue with the lid down until the mushrooms are soft.  
5. Add salt, pepper and garlic.  Cook for about a minute so that the garlic becomes fragrant.
6. Add boiled wheatberries and parsley to the pot, mixing occasionally until they are heated through.
7. Pour in cream and mix.
8. Serve promptly.

Notes

• The wheat berry and water quantities will vary depending on the type of wheat berries you use.  Read the box instructions to get it right, or try my timing first with wheat berries from the bulk bins at Sprouts.  You can also find wheat berries in some Middle Eastern stores and probably among Bob's Red Mill products as well, but I bet they are pricier.
• If you are salt/spice sensitive, reduce the salt and pepper to 1/4 tsp each.
• If you think the pilaf will be in the fridge for more than a day, I might skip the cream.  Milk products go bad faster than milkless grain dishes.  That said, I've had a batch in the fridge for two days, and I see no sign of spoilage.

Next variation

• Next time around I would like to get some additional mushroom flavor, so I might steam the wheat with some type of dried mushroom... maybe ground dried mushrooms.
• I think I'll add a cup of shredded carrots to the onions and mushrooms as they are cooking, as well as a cup of thinly sliced celery.

Ingredients

• 3 -4 cups diced cooked chicken
• 1 lb pork sausage
• 1 stalk celery, chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon onion, chopped
• 1⁄2 lb mushroom, sliced
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 16 ounces frozen cauliflower, cooked well and drained
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
• salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
• paprika (optional)

Method

1. Brown the sausage with the celery, onion and mushrooms.
2. Stir the softened cream cheese into the sausage mixture until well blended.
3. Coarsely chop the cooked cauliflower.
4. Mix all ingredients and spread in a greased 9"x13" baking dish.
5. If desired, dust the top with paprika.
6. Bake, covered with foil, at 350º for about 30 minutes.
7. Uncover and bake until hot and bubbly and top is lightly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Attempt 1

This first try came out sub-mediocre. Instead of 4 cups of diced chicken I used two pounds of ground chicken. I didnt' have any foil, so I just cooked it for 35 minutes. My largest casserole dish is not quite 9x13, so I used it plus another dish. Next time I might want to try this version of the recipe.

Buckwheat with onions and mushrooms is a beloved Russian side dish. Decided to make it tonight. Below you will find not a standard recipe, but what I simply experimented with.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups of buckwheat groats
• 2 2/3 cups of boiling water
• 1 astonishing chunk of butter
• 4 small onions, sliced in thin half circles
• 250 g (1/2 pound) of button mushrooms (шампиньоны), sliced about 1/4 inch thick

Method

1. I boiled the water in my electric teapot. Added it plus a bouillon cube to a pan that had the buckwheat. Put that over a low flame. Covered the pan.
2. Melted the butter in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. Threw in the onions. Cooked till translucent. I didn't add the mushrooms at the beginning of this step because I wanted the onions to carmelize as the mushrooms where added in the next step, but I didn't want them to burn.
3. Added the mushrooms to the frying pan.
4. When the buckwheat was still just a bit tougher than I wanted to eat, I turned off the heat and uncovered it.
5. I had some extra chicken fat and juice in the fridge from a previous recipe, probably about a quarter cup's worth. I added this to the frying pan. Wow, what a great smell.
6. By this stage there was no free water in the pan with the buckwheat. Once the mushrooms seemed done, I added the buckwheat to the frying pan, along with half a cup of water to complete the cooking process. Once the water was gone, I considered the dish done.

Turned out quite well.

Comments

• In retrospect I shouldn't have added the bouillon cube or chicken stuff later. Instead I should have cooked it so that the flavors of the buckwheat, butter, onions and mushrooms were clear, along with nothing else. My reasoning is that the first time you make something, you should do the really basic version so that you later understand why people do the more complex versions.
• If you don't use bouillon in the buckwheat, you will need to add salt to the water that boils the buckwheat.
• You should also probably add a bit of salt and some black pepper to the frying pan for the last minute or two before adding the buckwheat.
• There are lots of variations on this recipe, but if you are using it as a basic side dish to complement an interesting main dish, then why make it more complex? Not too surprisingly, there are variations that add a bit of sour cream.