Sunday night at the improv: Barley Casserole

For some reason this weekend I had little voices telling me to "make a casserole" and "make something with barley", so I fused them into this casserole. It turned out well, but I'll use a lower proportion of barley next time I try something like this.

6 stalks celery, 2 carrots, 1 red onion, finely diced
8 oz brown mushrooms, medium dice
1 large turnip, medium dice
1 large parsnip, medium dice
1.5 lb boneless chicken thighs, large dice
2 1/2 cups pearled barley (this is tooo much!)
2 bay leaves
6 cups chicken stock
water
1-2 cups fresh basil leaves
juice of one lemon
6 cloves garlic
breadcrumbs
salt, pepper, cayenne
butter and olive oil

In a big sautee pan, cook the mirepoix in some olive oil and butter until it starts to soften, add the mushrooms and cook until they give up some liquid. Add the turnip and parsnip and a bit of stock. Sautee for 5-10 minutes, until things start to soften a bit.
Meanwhile, season the chicken with salt, pepper and cayenne and brown in butter in another pan.
Add the barley, bay leaf, and remaining chicken stock to the veggies and stir well. Add the chicken pieces, as well as whatever liquid came off the chicken and return everything to a boil.
Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the barley is tender, 45-60 minutes. Stir it every 5 minutes or so and add water if things start to dry out (they will).
Make the pistou: Toss the garlic in a food processor and chop it, then add the basil, a big pinch of salt, and lemon juice. Pulse until the basil is finely chopped, adding however much olive oil is required to make that happen. Set this aside to mellow a bit.
When the barley is tender, stir in the pistou and cook for another minute or two. Adjust seasoning.
You could eat this as a very enriched porridge at this point, but I wanted casserole, so I threw it in a big baking dish, topped with buttered breadcrumbs and tossed it in a 400 degree oven for a bit to brown the breadcrumbs.

For dessert I scratched the mandarine creme brulee itch. Quite successfully too. :-)