Chicken and Barley goodness

Well after three weeks of hectic-ness, doctor visits, A and E visits, loss of appetite and more doctor visits we are finally back on track and back to normal-ness (ish).
Needless to say there was not much productiveness in the kitchen department however i did mange to create a few quick meals.
This chicken, tarragon and barley one pot went down a treat thankfully and freezes well too. There's something about barley i think its really comforting and nostalgic, maybe because my Granny used it in her stews.

Chicken, barley and tarragon one pot...of goodness.
Serves 4
Suitable for freezing

2 large chicken legs
2 bay leaves
2 sticks celery, 1 finely diced one roughly choped
2 carrots, 1 peeled and diced one roughly chopped
1 red pepper deseeded and diced
1 courgette diced
large handful of mushrooms diced
2 shallots, 1 finely diced, 1 halved
2 cloves of garlic, 1 smushed up
Handful of parsley with stalks
160g pearl barley
1 tablespoon chopped tarragon leaves

Put the chicken legs into a large saucepan or stock pot with the roughly chopped celery, carrot, mushroom stalks, parsley, 1 of the bay leaves, the halved shallot and 1 garlic clove.
Cover with 1.5 liters of water, bring slowly to the boil. Skim off any froth and turn down the heat to a gently simmer. Allow to simmer for about an hour or until the chicken is coming away from the bones.

In another pan gently soften the diced shallot with the garlic in some olive oil and butter stirring regularly until soft and translucent, this may take up to ten minutes so bear with it and dont let it burn.

Remove the chicken from the stock and tear the meat off the bone making sure no bits of bone make their way into your pile of chicken flesh. Shred the chicken meat and leave aside to cool down.

Add the barley, diced carrot, celery, red pepper and courgette to the onions and mix well. At this stage give a good twist of black pepper. Pour the stock into the pot and discard the veggies.
Simmer for around an hour or until the barley is nice and tender. In a small frying pan sautee the mushrooms in some butter, this will give them a nice texture and carmalised taste, toss in the tarragon.
Stir the chicken and mushrooms into the soup base, if you feel its a little thick let it down with some boiling water to your desired consistency.

We hope you like it and find it as comforting as we do...