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Beans and Barley Soup

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

The earliest memories I have of Barley is my dad asking amma to make him Barley water. As kids, we would shun away from it. My mom would incorporate barley water in vegetable soup and I would slurp on it happily clueless that it had barley water. But now, I embrace it. I have made chicken Barley soup and this is the next one I made. It is a rustic soup, kinda.

I made a few variations to the soup depending on what I  had in the pantry. It was pouring heavily and the day called for soup, but not venturing out of the house to go grocery shopping. I have used the split peas, left over wild rice and barley in this soup. Feel free to use some of your left over beans in the pantry that you have very little of and don’t know what to do with them. Beans and barley slow cooked with mire poix and garlic, garnished with parsley is just what you want on a rainy day.

Olive oil – 1 T

Onion – 1 chopped

Celery – 3 sticks, chopped

Carrots – 2 , peeled and cut in rounds

Potato – 1, peeled and cut in big chunks

Garlic cloves – 3, minced

Wild rice – ¼ cup

Barley – ¼ cup

Green Split peas – ¼ cup

Yellow split peas – ¼ cup

Water – 4 to 5 cups

Canned cranberry beans – 1 can (14 oz)

Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley – 1 tsp, finely chopped

• Heat oil in a Dutch oven and when the oil is hot, add onions, carrot and celery.
• Saute for 3-4 minutes and then add the minced garlic and give it a quick stir.
• Add all of the grains, salt, pepper and water and bring it to a quick boil, reduce to medium low and cover it with a lid
• Let it cook for about 40- 45 minutes or until the peas, barley and rice are well cooked
• Open the lid, add cranberry beans and let it simmer for 10 more minutes.
• If the soup is too thick for your taste, add another additional cup of water and adjust seasonings
• Garnish with parsley and celery leaves and a sprinkle of cayenne.

Variations:

• Marlena’s recipe calls for dried mushrooms. Use dried or fresh mushrooms
• I think this can easily be made into a slow cooker recipe.
• Use vegetables that are in season.

Check  what Mel and Eileen have cooked for you