Barley Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 4 slices bacon, fat removed and meat finely chopped
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 12 button mushrooms, quartered
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup barley
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 4 dark meat chicken pieces

Recipe

• preheat oven to 375 degrees f (190 degrees c).
• in a large skillet, fry bacon until browned. reserve bacon fat for sauteeing chicken later. add onions and carrots to skillet and saute 2 minutes. add mushrooms, stock, barley, thyme, marjoram, parsley, bay leaf and pepper to taste. mix all together and spread mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish. add green bell pepper on top and stir to settle.
• heat reserved bacon fat in skillet and brown chicken. place browned chicken on top of barley mixture, cover baking dish and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.