It’s Sacramento Beer Week, so what better time to celebrate barley? Actually, that wasn’t really the motivation for this. The real story is that we’re going to be drinking a lot of beer to celebrate a certain Beer, so a healthy and hearty brunch is in order.

I’ve been wondering what to do with the pearled barley I was inspired to purchase at some point. So naturally, Pinterest provided a solution, Skillet Barley with Kale & Eggs.

I swapped in green onions for shallots, spinach for kale, and chicken broth for vegetable broth, in this adaptation:

Add 2 sliced green onions to 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat; cook for 2 minutes.

Add 1 cup barley; stir to toast for 1 minute.

Add 3.5 cups broth (I used organic chicken broth) and bring to boil; adjust temperature as needed to maintain active boil for 15 minutes, and ultimately you want the barley to soak up all the liquid.

Turn on the broiler with the rack 6 inches below.

Stir in a bunch of spinach (I used half a bag) until wilted. Add another swirl of olive oil to help the process along.

Crack 4 eggs over the top; season with salt, and broil until egg whites are opaque. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan.

I was very happy with the results, because I like grains any time of day, and the dish had the right amount of flavor. David isn’t as convinced about the barley. But the eggs were perfectly runny at least!