Chicken, mushrooms and barley

The day after you roast a chicken it makes perfect sense to use up leftover bits. I knew I wanted to use some mushrooms with it but that was as far as I got with planning ahead. On Monday:

I pulled apart the chicken carcass from the day before. I stripped off any leftover white meat and then pulled apart thighs, etc for some dark meat. Roughly chopped all together and set aside. Minced half a sweet onion and began to saute in butter in a large, deep skillet. I did not brown it, then added 1 small stalk of celery, minced. Sliced half a package of cremini mushrooms (about 6 or 7 good-sized ones) into 1/8" slices, added to pan with a bit more butter. Let all become well-cooked but not too browned. Added dill, minced parsley and black pepper. Added 1 cup of barley, sort of on a whim, which I allowed to toast briefly. Added chopped up chicken from earlier. Then, 2 cups chicken stock, brought back to boil and covered. Added a little Worcestershire sauce. The barley absorbs the liquid, but remains pleasantly chewy, in about 15-20 minutes.

Chopped and steamed 1 head broccoli, with matchstick stems included.

Pulled out half a loaf of ficelle out of freezer (I buy 2 at the DeKalb Market, cut them up into good sizes and freeze. They are pretty good that way for a week or so and crisp up well in the oven), and heated up until golden and crispy.

I drank the rest of the sugary pinot noir. Then we had tea and more pumpkin bread.