Wow.
I just logged in to write a new post and the little infomatic graph thing told me that on October 17th there were 160 views of this blog. That is astonishing. Previous to that, more than ten views per post was a banner day. Not quite sure what I did, but thank you. ^_^
Two things about me: among my many other hobbies, I play D&D. My friend Dave jokes that my alignment is Chaotic Shiny and he just might be right. I am also a Master's student, planning on a Ph.D someday, which makes me joke sometimes about my alignment being Wilful Poor. This month in particular I've had a few unexpected expenses combine with a few I knew were coming and it's left things pretty tight in terms of cash flow as I get to the end of the month. Most students I know are in this position - it kind of comes with the territory.
I wanted to share this soup recipe as it is something I make when things need to stretch a bit because it makes a lot for not much money, is quite filling, and is fairly healthy. The original recipe is vegetarian and from a Cook's Illustrated magazine, but it's quite flexible depending on what you have on hand. You can add meat to it if you'd like - I've tried adding chicken, beef, or lamb cubes to it on separate previous occasions. Usually I add (canned) beans instead though, convenient and trusty cheap protein sources that they are. My favourites in this soup are black beans for the colour contrast, although occasionally kidney beans or chickpeas have been known to make an appearance as well. If you have mushrooms, they can be sliced up and sautéd for a bit before adding the sliced leeks to them. If you don't have leeks, you can use onions, although if you make that trade, consider spending the time to caramelise your onions quite well, as it will really add to the flavour of the soup. Fresh herbs added at the end really brighten the presentation. I also tend to add roughly a cup each of (frozen) corn kernels and peas to brighten things up in the colour department as well. As a bonus, this soup freezes very well. I like to portion it out in sizes I can take to school for lunch for the convenience of grabbing it out of the freezer and going in the morning.
Farmhouse Barley Vegetable Soup
(in the style of Cook's Illustrated, kind of)
1/8 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
8 sprigs fresh parsley, plus 3 tablespoons chopped and reserved
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1-2 bay leaves
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 lbs leeks, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces and washed thoroughly (white and light green parts only)
2 carrots, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
2 celery ribs, cut into bite sized pieces
1/3 cup dry white wine (or apple juice or apple cider if you don't have wine)
2 tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper
6 cups water
4 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup pearl barley (or more if you prefer; you'll need to add more stock at the end to compensate for what the extra barley soaks up)
1-3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed (or diced finely, your call)
1 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I use the yellow skinned baby potatoes and cut them in half)
1 1/2 cups chopped green cabbage
1 tsp lemon juice
Prep: The original recipe says to grind the dried mushrooms in a spice grinder and add 2 tsps of the resulting powder to the soup, but that seems a bit fussy to me, so I just put the dehydrated mushrooms into the mix and then pull them out at the end of cooking if I remember. You can tie the herbs together with kitchen twine for easy removal from the pot; alternately, you could just throw everything into the pot and remember to fish out the sticks later.
In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. If adding mushrooms to the soup, add them first and cook them until they release their juices and start to darken. Add the sliced leeks, carrots, celery, wine, soy sauce and up to 2 tsp salt and stir everything together. Cook for for ~10 minutes, until celery has softened and the liquid has mostly evaporated, stirring periodically.
Add the water, broth, pearl barley, garlic, dried mushrooms (or powder if you made it), and the fresh herbs. Increase the heat to high and bring everything to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover the pot with a lid, and leave to simmer for ~25 minutes.
Next, add the potatoes and the cabbage and let the pot return to a simmer partially covered; cook everything until the barley, cabbage, and potatoes are tender, a further 18-20 minutes.
If adding beans, corn, or peas, add them during the last 5-10 minutes of cooking so that they come up to temperature with the rest of the soup.
When cooking is complete, remove the mushroom bits and herb stems if required and then add the chopped parsley and lemon juice and stir to distribute within the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then ladle into bowls and enjoy. Or portion into containers for freezing and let come to room temperature before putting into the freezer.
I really enjoy this soup with a biscuit. You could probably even make dumplings on top of the soup while it's in the final cooking stages if you wanted to... I might have to try that next time. I'm also tempted to try subbing out the Yukon Gold potatoes for cubed sweet potato and seeing how that goes. In terms of yield, the tall containers on the far left hold 3 cups each, the next two over hold 2 cups each, the next three to the right hold roughly a cup each, and the final container is much deeper than it appears and likely is holding four cups of soup. So yes, ~20 cups of delicious soup in fairly short order. Win.
No comments:
Post a Comment