Busy Monday and More Snow

I was very busy today working on my latest pastel, so I decided to make Savory Barley Soup, partially due to the snow. Jim started the day without breakfast as we had snow all night, and he went out with the snow blower to do our space as well as for the two ladies in the next two houses. We were awakened early by other neighbors that don’t have a life, but feel they need to get rid of the snow very early. I knew we had Aidells Chicken Apple Sausage in the freezer so I decided to have a big breakfast ready when he came in. We bought the sausages at Costco, and I had not divided them before freezing, so we had more than needed and decided that they would be a good accompaniment to the dinner soup.


Here is the recipe from again Eat Well:

Dried porcini mushrooms, ½ oz

Dry white wine, ½ c

Shallots, ½ c chopped

Garlic, 2 cloves minced

Fresh cremini mushrooms, 8 oz.

Thyme, ½ t dried

Salt and pepper to taste

Chicken broth 3 c.

Pearled barley ¾ c

Tomato paste, 1 T

Lemon juice 2 t

Jim called this a good hardy soup to have on a snow day. I called it a little dull. Anyway here is how you make it.

Rinse the dry porcinis to remove any grit. I used the microwave to heat the wine one minute and added the mushrooms to soak 15 minutes, drain and reserve the wine. In the mean time, I chopped the shallots and garlic. They also wanted the cremini mushrooms chopped but I missed that part and added them sliced, as purchased, but not chopped. Heat the oil and add the shallots and garlic. Cook 3-5 minutes. Add cremini, thyme, ¼ t salt and ¼ t pepper. Cook stirring constantly until the cremini release their juices and begin to brown. Four to five minutes was about right as stated in the recipe. Add the reserved wine and boil 1 minute. Add the broth, barley, tomato paste, 3 c water and the chopped porcini. Cover and simmer about 45 -50 minutes. Remove 1 cup and put in the blender, puree until smooth. Add it and the lemon juice to the soup. It really does need additional salt and pepper in my opinion. Serve.

We had the additional Aidells sausages with the soup.

Jim served a 2006 Black Mountain Zinfandel from CA, available at Trader Joe’s.

In the cook book they say that barley helps to regulate cholesterol.