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Vegetable Soup with Barley

Yield
6 to 8 servings
Prep info
20 min prep + 10 min cook + 25 min simmer + 20 min simmer + 2 min finish
Prep time
Not set
Cook time
1 hour, 17 minutes
Time required
1 hour, 17 minutes
Oven preheat
N/A
Type
Soup
Status
Rejected
Tags

Ingredients

  • For Step One:
  • 1/8 oz dried porcini mushrooms
  • 8 fresh parsley sprigs
  • 4 fresh thyme sprigs
  • 1 fresh bay leaf
  • For Step Two:
  • 2 T butter (unsalted)
  • 1.5 lb leeks (white and light green parts, sliced 1/2" thick and washed thoroughly)
  • 2 carrots (peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces)
  • 2 celery ribs (cut into 1/4" pieces)
  • 1/3 c broth (or dry white wine)
  • 2 t soy sauce (dark)
  • 2 t Salt (Table)
  • For Step Three:
  • 8 c water
  • 4 vegetable broth cubes (or chicken broth cubes, or broth instead of cubes+water)
  • 1/2 c pearl barley
  • 1 cloves garlic (peeled and smashed)
  • For Step Four:
  • 1.5 lb potatoes (King Edward or Yukon Gold; peeled and cut into 1/2" dice)
  • 1 turnip (peeled and cut into 3/4" pieces)
  • For Step Five:
  • 1 c peas (frozen)
  • 1 t fresh lemon juice
  • 3 T chopped parsley
  • salt (to taste)
  • freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Method

1. Grind mushrooms with spice grinder until they resemble fine meal, 10 to 30 seconds. Measure out 2 teaspoons porcini powder; set aside. Reserve remainder for other use. Using kitchen twine, tie together parsley sprigs, thyme, and bay leaf; set aside.

2. Melt butter in large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add leeks, carrots, celery, wine, soy sauce, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and celery is softened, about 10 minutes.

3. Add water, broth, barley, garlic, porcini powder, and herb bundle; increase heat to high and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, for 25 minutes.

4. Add potatoes and turnip; return to simmer and cook until barley, potatoes, and turnip are tender, 18 to 20 minutes.

5. Remove pot from heat and remove herb bundle. Stir in peas, lemon juice, and chopped parsley; season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Notes

SJ Note: Originally called for 1.5 cups of chopped green cabbage to be added in step 4.  I've omitted because I don't like cooked cabbage.

Notes from source: 

We prefer an acidic, un-oaked white wine such as sauvignon blanc for this recipe. We love the richness added by the Lemon-Thyme Butter (related), but the soup can also be garnished with crisp bacon, crumbled cheddar cheese, or croutons.

Why this recipe works: Most recipes for hearty winter vegetable soups, it turns out, are neither quick nor easy. For a satisfying soup that doesn’t take the better part of a day to make, we started with canned vegetable broth. To this we added soy sauce and ground dried porcini mushrooms. These ingredients added a savory, almost meaty flavor to the soup base. To make the soup more filling, we added barley to the hearty combination of carrots, potatoes, leeks, cabbage, and turnips.

SJ Note 20 Jan 2013: Chris didn't like the taste of this at all, found it entirely too strange.  I only thought it was edible, but not good, and didn't even finish my bowl of it.  There's nothing wrong with the recipe itself, this is a personal taste thing.  This was a bit of an experiment for us, since we haven't liked leeks or turnip in the past, but I wanted to give them another go.  If you like all that goes into it, give it a go.