Cozy up with Mushroom Barley Soup!

With this being my first content driven blog post and the winter months are here (quicker than I expected too!) I have decided to post my recipe for a hearty and delicious Mushroom and Barley Soup. It may sound unorthodox but its SOOO good.

I first discovered barley while working at Princeton University in the summer of 2008 (Go Sports Camps). We got all meals paid for so I HAD to take advantage. I’ve always been a fan of soup but hadn’t made it very often. this, however, changed all of that for me. It’s very simple to make and the ingredients can be substituted for just about anything. This recipe makes about 2-3 servings so if you want it family size just double everything. Give this one a try and let me know how it goes.

Ingredients:

Olive oil
Button Mushrooms (Or any other type you like)
1 Onion
1 Stalk celery
1 clove garlic
4 cups beef chicken or veggie stock
¼ cup Medium barley
½ tsp. Ground cumin
Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Step 1: Chop and sauté onion and celery in a medium pot until soft.



Step 2: Chop or grate garlic and put in w/ onion and celery.



Step 3: Season with a little salt and pepper.


Step 4: Chop Mushrooms to fair sized bits and add to the onion/celery/garlic mixture



Step 5: Cook mushrooms until just soft but with a little bite to them, then season.



Step 6: Add in the 4 cups of liquid (You can use water here too along w/ 2 bouillon cubes for flavor)



Step 7: Season to taste. This will be your best chance to make sure your barely is full flavored.


Step 8: Add the Barley to the soup now and bring to a boil (Much like you would cook rice)




Step 9: Once the soup is boiling, cover and knock the heat back to medium and let simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. The soup will thicken up some from the starches in the barley and the mixture will reduce down a bit allowing for a richer flavor.



Be sure to stir the soup every now and again to develop those starches.



Step 10: Once the barley is cooked through turn off the heat and serve.