Work has been busy and exciting, I’ve been reaching more readers through the simple technique of posting frequently (as I learned from Dianne Jacob, twice/week, every week!), and through the Boston Food Bloggers launch party, I met some incredibly friendly and talented food bloggers. January was a productive month!
clockwise from top: Ashley's butternut squash, Megan's garlic, Amanda's onion, my barley mushroom
After meeting at the launch party, Ashley, Megan, Amanda, and I organized a Soup Swap Potluck. It was easy to chat with our common love of food and everyone brought delicious soup to sample!
My contribution was the barley mushroom soup. The recipe is loosely based on the Moosewood original and inspired by one of my visits to 2nd Street. I could have followed the Moosewood recipe exactly (it’s delicious), but I didn’t buy the dry sherry it called for. I have a small kitchen. And experimenting with multiple recipes is always a great creative outlet…
Barley Mushroom Soup
Ingredients (makes 12-15 servings)
- 1 C pearl barley
- 8 C water
- 1 onion, chopped
- 16 oz mushrooms (I used half baby bella, half white), sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 T butter
- 1 T tomato paste
- 2 T soy sauce
- 1 T Braggs amino acid
- 1 t lemon juice
- salt & ground black pepper to taste
Directions
- Sort and rinse barley. Cook in large pot in 3 cups of water. Turn off heat when tender.
- In separate pan, saute onion in 2 T butter until it begins to caramelize, then add garlic, mushrooms, and 1 T of butter.
- When mushrooms are almost cooked (be careful not to overcook), mix in with barley
- Add tomato paste, stir.
- Add remaining water to the pot, along with soy sauce, Braggs, lemon juice. Bring to boil, then turn down to simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Continue cooking on low for 10-15 minutes.
- Serve (or freeze a portion to enjoy at a later time – this soup heats up well).
Yumm! I loved the barley soup! It was so nice spending time with you the other day–can’t wait to do another swap again soon
I love the idea of a soup swap! They all look delicious.
Mushroom barley reminds me of my childhood. Love it. Did the Braggs add a lot of flavor? Just wondering if it’s totally necessary to go out and buy some for this.
Elizabeth,
You could definitely leave out the Braggs. It’s funny that you mention this: I grew up with my mom’s delicious vegetarian french onion soup (the broth is flavored with a combination of soy sauce and Braggs) and this recipe was similar to the point that I was thinking of leaving it out next time as well!
You’ll have to let me know if you decide to try it out!
My hubby really enjoyed your soup leftovers! Can’t wait to do it again!