We are feeling our own little taste of winter here on Maui. The usual 80° temperatures are dipping all the way into the 60’s (°F). My husband and I pulled out our fleece sweatshirts and socks to stay warm. Now all of you who are sitting in much colder temps, shoveling snow and wiping off icey windshields all bundled up in hats and gloves are laughing at the thought of me being cold in 60° weather — but just like you I’m craving something warm — what better than a nice cup of hot soup! Mushroom Barley Soup!
The recipe that I used is from Renée Loux’s book The Balanced Plate. This book not only has delicious recipes, but it has great tips on healthy living for the mind, body and spirit. What I particularly like about this book is the way she takes you from the ground up. In this recipe for instance, she suggests using homemade stock and she provides several different recipes in the book. For the Pine Nut Pesto Thin-Crust Pizza with Artichoke hearts, Olives, and Plum Tomatoes (wow! that’s a mouth full!) she includes how to roast the artichoke’s. She doesn’t simply instruct you to used canned ingredients. No and it makes a great deal of difference in the tasting.
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you view life) some of us have budget restrictions on how many groceries we can buy each week. So the cost savings between buying all the numerous ingredients for stock or buying a good vegan bouillon cube could be enough to buy veggies for an entire meal. But I applaud Renee for setting the bar high for doing everything from scratch. I myself would like to find a happy medium. Given the cost of artichokes, it felt extremely wasteful throwing out so much of the artichoke leaves and only using the heart in the thin-crust pizza recipe. Straining out the (4 large) onions from the broth in the Wild Rice Pilau with Brussels Sprouts and Leeks in Carmelized Onion Broth… also felt frivolous. I held on to the onions and used as stock in other dishes. Next time eating artichokes, I will only consider recipes that use the entire vegetable and as for stock, I will research recipes that use vegetable odds and ends rather than buying whole new veggies exclusively for stock.
In Renee’s Mushroom Barley recipe however there is no waste and it is super simple. Best of all it is tasty without any added fat or oil. Below I’ve printed the recipe as it appears in her book. I made this soup following the recipe exactly the first time… this time I made some changes. I doubled the amount of mushrooms and increased the amount of onion, carrots and celery. Also, I forgot to soak the barley, which Renee suggests as a way to shorten the cooking time. So I ended up cooking my soup a little bit longer but it still came out delicious. Next time I would consider adding a little garlic and some spice like parsley to the pot.
Wow, all this writing about the soup is making me crave more… I think it’s time to warm up a bowl of leftovers!
Hope this recipe warms you and your tummy! Enjoy!
MUSHROOM BARLEY SOUP
6 Servings
1 1/2 cups pearled barley, soaked in 4-cups filtered water overnight, drained, and rinsed
1 yellow onion
3 ribs celery, cut into 1/2″ pieces
2 carrots, scrubbed or peeled, sliced in half lengthwise and cut into 1/2″ pieces
3 cups of cremini mushrooms
4 cups vegetable stock (Renee references her homemade stock recipes included in the book and notes that in a pinch, organic prepared vegetable broth, or natural boillon cubes with filtered water may be used.)
2 cups filtered water
sea salt
In a medium-large stockpoit, place the drained barley, onion, celery, carrots, and mushrooms. Add the stock and 2 cups of filtered water.
Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the barley is completely cooked and thickened. Season to taste with sea salt. Add more water or stock if the soup is too thick for your liking.
