Mushrooms and Fennel a la Grecque with Barley and Feta
Browned cremini mushrooms and fennel wedges braised in olive oil, lemon, and crushed coriander seed, then cooled slightly and spooned over pearl barley with parsley and crumbled feta.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
I make this on a Sunday and eat it for lunch three days running, which is the whole reason it exists in my kitchen. Vegetables cooked in olive oil, lemon, and coriander seed are a very old French idea, and the point of them is that they improve overnight. The mushrooms drink up the lemony oil, the fennel loses its licorice edge and turns sweet, and the crushed coriander seed goes from sharp and citrusy to something rounder. Hot from the pan it is good. Cold from the refrigerator the next day, spooned over barley, it is genuinely better.
What you taste first is browning. Mushrooms give up a lot of water, and if you crowd them they simply stew in it, so they go into a wide pan in two batches and stay put long enough to color. That deep savory edge is what carries the dish, because everything after it is bright: lemon, garlic, thyme, a bay leaf, and enough black pepper to notice. Fennel is the counterweight. Cut into wedges through the root so they hold together, the layers soften and slump while the core keeps a bit of bite.
This belongs in the middle of a busy week, when you want a lunch that does not have to be assembled at the last minute. Barley is the base I keep coming back to because the grains stay separate and chewy under all that oil rather than turning soft. Feta goes on at the end, salty and cool against the warm mushrooms, and the parsley is not a garnish here, it is a whole third of a cup and you should taste it. Lemon wedges on the table let each person sharpen their own bowl.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 lb cremini mushrooms, halved, quartered if large
- 2 medium fennel bulbs (about 14 oz), cored and cut into 1/2-inch wedges, a few fronds reserved
- 3 cups cooked pearl barley, warm or at room temperature
- 2 large shallots, thinly sliced
- 3 1/4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 3 tbsp lemon juice, plus wedges for the table
- 2 oz feta, crumbled
- 1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 tsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed under a pan
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 dried bay leaf
Instructions
- Get the pan hot and the mushrooms dry: Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth rather than rinsing them, since wet mushrooms will not brown. Halve them, quartering any that are larger than a walnut. Set a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tbsp of the olive oil and let it shimmer before anything goes in.
- Brown the mushrooms in two batches: Add half the mushrooms cut side down in a single layer and leave them alone for three minutes, until the undersides are deep brown and they release from the pan without sticking. Toss and cook two minutes more, then tip them into a bowl. Repeat with another 1 tbsp of oil and the rest.
- Soften the fennel: Turn the heat to medium and add the remaining oil with the fennel wedges, cut side down. Cook for five minutes without moving them so the flat faces take on color, then add the shallots and cook three minutes more, stirring, until they go limp and translucent at the edges.
- Build the braise: Add the garlic, coriander seeds, thyme, bay leaf, black pepper, and salt and stir for one minute, until the coriander smells like warm orange peel. Pour in the lemon juice and 1/2 cup water, scraping up anything stuck to the pan, and return the mushrooms with any juices in the bowl.
- Braise, then let it settle: Cover, lower the heat, and simmer for eight to ten minutes, until a knife slides into the thickest part of a fennel wedge with only slight resistance. Uncover and cook two minutes more so the liquid reduces to a few spoonfuls of glossy oil and juice. Fish out the bay leaf and let the pan stand off the heat for at least ten minutes, which is when the flavors come together.
- Serve it over the barley: Divide the barley among four wide bowls and spoon the vegetables over, making sure each bowl gets its share of the pan liquid. Scatter the parsley, the reserved fennel fronds, and the crumbled feta over the top, and put lemon wedges on the table.
Variations
- Cauliflower and mushroom: Swap half the fennel for small cauliflower florets, added with the mushrooms at the braising stage so they stay firm.
- Over farro: Use cooked farro in place of the barley for a chewier grain that holds the oil just as well.
- With ricotta: Leave out the feta and put a spoonful of whole milk ricotta in the bottom of each bowl, so the warm vegetables melt into it.
- Orange and bay: Replace half the lemon juice with fresh orange juice and add a strip of orange peel to the braise, which pushes the coriander further toward the sweet side.
Storage & Leftovers
The vegetables keep five days in a sealed container in the refrigerator, and days two and three are the best of them. The lemon and coriander work their way into the mushrooms overnight, and the fennel softens a little further without going limp. Store the barley separately so it does not soak up all the oil, and hold the feta and parsley until you serve.
Serve leftovers cold or at room temperature rather than reheating. Take the container out twenty minutes before you eat, since olive oil firms up in the refrigerator and the dish tastes flat straight from the cold. If you want it warm, tip it into a skillet over low heat for two or three minutes, just to loosen the oil.
I would not freeze this one. Mushrooms come out of the freezer soft and watery, and the fennel loses the bite that makes it worth cutting into wedges. It is quick enough to make fresh, and it already keeps most of a week.
Notes & Tips
- Crush the coriander, do not grind it: Press the seeds under the bottom of a heavy pan until they crack. Whole seeds stay too quiet and ground coriander turns dusty, while cracked seeds give you little bursts of citrus all through the bowl.
- Cut fennel wedges through the root: Leave the core attached at the base and each wedge holds together through the braise. Cut across the bulb and you get a pan of loose petals that collapse.
- Let it stand before serving: Ten minutes off the heat is not resting, it is marinating. The oil and lemon are still hot enough to move into the mushrooms, and that is where the flavor comes from.
- Keep the barley separate: Grains stored in the braising liquid drink all of it overnight and go soft. Kept apart, the barley stays chewy and the vegetables stay glossy.
- Taste before the feta goes on: Feta is briny and it lands last, so season the pan a little under where you think it should be and let the cheese finish the job.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Mushrooms, fennel, and barley are doing three separate jobs in one bowl. The mushrooms bring the savory depth, the fennel keeps everything bright and crunchy, and the barley underneath is a chewy whole grain that soaks up the lemony oil and turns the plate into a meal.
- Cremini mushrooms are mostly water and turn intensely savory once that water cooks off, and they carry selenium along with the B vitamins riboflavin and niacin. Mushrooms grown under ultraviolet light also make vitamin D, which is worth knowing when you read a package.
- Fennel eats sweet and faintly of anise once it is cooked, and the bulb brings potassium and vitamin C along with a good amount of fiber for something that tastes this delicate.
- Pearl barley holds its shape and stays chewy, and it carries beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that has been studied for its effect on cholesterol. It is also what makes a bowl of vegetables sit like lunch rather than like a side dish.
- Coriander seed, thyme, bay, and a full third of a cup of parsley are the flavor of this dish, and the parsley is generous enough to count as a green in its own right, with vitamin K and a fresh, grassy bite that cuts the olive oil.
- As you eat, notice how different the cold marinated mushrooms taste from the hot ones straight out of the pan, and let a lunch you made days ago be a small kindness to yourself rather than something eaten over a keyboard.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a la grecque actually mean here?
It is a French method, not a Greek one, and the name comes from the seasoning: olive oil, lemon, coriander seed, thyme, and bay. Vegetables are cooked in that liquid and then left to sit in it. Almost any firm vegetable takes to it, which is why the technique has outlived most of the dishes it was invented for.
Can I use a different mushroom?
Yes. Cremini hold their shape and brown reliably, which is why I call for them, but quartered white button mushrooms work the same way and shiitake caps are excellent if you pull the woody stems. Oyster mushrooms cook faster and want only two minutes a side.
My mushrooms went gray and watery. What happened?
Too many in the pan at once. Mushrooms release a surprising amount of liquid, and once the pan is crowded that liquid cannot evaporate, so they simmer instead of searing. Two batches in a wide skillet takes four extra minutes and changes the whole dish.
Can I make it ahead for the week?
That is the best way to use it. Cook the vegetables, cool them in their liquid, and refrigerate. Cook the barley separately and keep it in its own container. Assemble a bowl the morning you want it, and add the feta and parsley just before you eat.