Mushroom and pearl barley soup 02

With borlotti beans, fresh thyme & sour cream

This is fast turning out to be one of my favourite soups, especially now that I’ve included borlotti beans. And, even though this would be made during colder months it’s still freezing cold here right now. All the more reason for updating this particular post. I’m still pondering over reheating the cooked pearl barley in olive oil and..well, that’s where the pondering comes in. I just can’t think of an ingredient to bring out the flavour of the barley for this. Of course, the mushrooms and beans do that to a certain extent. However, as I now want to serve the barley and beans separately – see horrendous photo below for explanation – I really would love to use something to enhance the barley. Is it simply butter rather than oil? I’ll have to wait and see.

Previously: Can’t quite believe I’m updating this post within the hour. Anne of UNI HOMEMAKER had asked if I could suggest a substitute for the chickpeas within my previous post. Initially I’d thought of cannellini beans, then remembered borlotti and how much I like them with mushrooms. I suddenly thought, ouch! Why haven’t I used them here. This would taste even better, be more healthy and not look as much of a sludgy type porridge, as in the photo directly below this text.

What is it about soup and sheen. Had a real struggle on my hands with photographing the awful photo directly above. And regardless of how good this tastes it surprises me just how wretched it looks. Still, this is easier than the other version on here, which includes beefed-up stock. As the barley hadn’t been soaked overnight that version took well over an hour to cook. This is ready in half the time. Hence the reason why I’m going with it as a new post instead of updating, like I’ve done before. It’s highly unusual of me to go with the same grain and vegetable for both lunch and sups. Yet, when I was shopping for my previous post I wasn’t able to get chestnut mushrooms on special offer in one of the stores as they were out of stock. So, I went with the long stemmed used within photos. On Saturday I couldn’t resist another punnet of the chestnut ones as I was walking by as they really are fantastic value. And taste great.

Ingredients:

Serves 2

• 40g (1.41 oz) x pearl barley, well rinsed and soaked overnight
• olive oil and butter
• 250g (8.81 oz) x chestnut mushrooms, wiped, sliced in half, turned and sliced into about 8 pieces
• 1 x dried bay leaf, split
• 3 x medium garlic cloves, peeled, root end cut off and discarded and garlic crushed/minced
• pinch x cayenne pepper, more to personal taste
• 500ml (1.05 US pt lqd) x water
• 1 x organic vegetable stock cube
• 2 x sprigs fresh thyme + extra leaves for serving
• 1 x 300g or 175g drained weight (10.58 or 6.17 0z drained weight) can borlotti beans, rinsed
• sour or single/light cream, to serve
• thyme leaves – optional

Measurements within brackets above are approximate only.

Instructions:

• Soak the pearl barley overnight, then rinse again before using. If barley hasn’t been soaked then cook it to the pack’s instructions. If soaked then put on electric heat No 4 (out of 6) in a saucepan with plenty of cold water to cover. Add a lid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to No 2 and simmer until cooked, possibly about 20 or so minutes. Times will vary so keep an eye on them to prevent them from overcooking. When cooked drain, rinse in cold water and set aside.
• In the meantime pan-fry the mushrooms with the bay leaf in a large heavy-based saucepan on electric heat No 3 with a little oil. If they start to leach their brown liquid keep with the pan until that is reabsorbed. That’s when the mushrooms need to be stirred through often to prevent scorching. Get them as evenly golden on all sides as possible. Take off heat and add the crushed/minced garlic and stir through. Sprinkle over the cayenne and after a couple of minutes, which will allow the rawness of the garlic to cook out slightly, pour in the water, add the stock cube with the fresh thyme and put back on heat No 4 with a lid, bring to near boiling, reduce heat to No 2 and simmer for about 10 or 15 minutes. Remove the thyme stems and bay leaves, discarding the thyme. Retain the bay leaves. Allow the mushroom mixture to cool sufficiently before pouring it into a blender or liquidiser. Blend until smooth and return this to the saucepan.
• Add the bay leaves, put back on heat No 4 with a lid, bring to near boiling point, reduce to No 2 until served.
• Add the pearl barley to a pan with a little oil or butter and reheat on heat No 2 for about 5 minutes before serving the soup.
• Add the borlotti beans to a separate pan with a little oil for about 5 minutes before serving to heat them through.
• Serve with more thyme leaves and either sour cream or single/light cream.

All photographs within Feed the piglet:
All rights reserved – Copyright © johnnysenough hepburn

About these ads