Vegetable and pearl barley soup
Soup is the best way to stay warm this winter and, conveniently, this vegetable and pearl barley soup is perfect for Veganuary.There is a lot of chopping here so this isn't a soup to make in a hurry! 'Diced' can be interpreted loosely, rough bite-size is fine if you lose patience.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 2 parsnips peeled and diced
- 4 sticks of celery diced
- 2 leeks quartered into lengths and diced
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp dried thyme or 2 tsp fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1½ l homemade vegetable or chicken stock see notes
- 60 g uncooked pearl barley
- 100 g spring greens and celery leaves
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Put a large cast iron pan or casserole dish on medium heat and the oil. When warm, tip in all the onion, carrot, parsnip, celery and leeks. Coat them in the oil as they sizzle and let them sweat with the lid on for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Crush the garlic and stir it into the vegetables along with the thyme and bay leaves. Cook for a couple of minutes then pour in the stock and season with a good grinding of salt. Simmer for 5-10 minutes to amalgamate the flavours.
- Pour in the pearl barley and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, if you would like, prepare some toast with melted cheese on top and don’t let them burn under the grill like I did.
- Once the pearl barley is plump and chewy, add the greens and celery leaves. Stir it all together, season with salt and remove from the heat.
- Serve with cheese toasts or bread, and ground black pepper.
Notes
How to make homemade stock: Halve 2 onions, don't bother peeling them, chop a couple of carrots and leeks into chunks, maybe some celery too, add fresh thyme and peppercorns (no salt though), cover in water and slowly bring to a simmer. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain and store in the fridge for 3 days.