Recipe created by Bob Greene, author of “The Best Life Diet”

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
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4 cups fat-free chicken or vegetable broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3/4 cup pearl barley, sorted and rinsed
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 pound Portabella or white button mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
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In a saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Cover the pan and turn off the heat.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a deep skillet over a medium flame. Add the onion and sauté until soft. Reduce the heat to low. Add the barley and stir it to coat with oil. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until wine is absorbed. Add the hot broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently and adding 1/2 cup more of broth each time the previous addition is almost absorbed. This should take about 30 minutes. (You may have a little broth left over.) If the barley is not yet tender and all the broth is gone, add a little water and cook until it is tender.

Put remaining 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a skillet over a medium-high flame. Add the mushrooms and shallots and sauté until mushrooms are golden and shallots are soft, about 5 minutes. (If the mixture begins to stick, remove the skillet from the flame and spray the mushrooms with nonstick cooking spray. Return the skillet to the heat and cook until the mushrooms are golden and shallots are soft.)

Stir the mushroom mixture and basil into the barley. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.