A soup from a while back...

Mushroom-Barley Soup 
Ingredients

2-3 ounces of dried porcini mushrooms

A few tablespoons of olive oil 

3 medium onions

3 ribs of celery

4 medium carrots 

6 cloves of garlic 

kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Handful of fresh parsley

2-3 tablespoons of tomato puree

8 cups of water or vegetable stock, or a combination

1 1/2 cups of barley - this was too much. I would probably cut this down to a cup, or even a tiny bit less, but I had exactly 1.5 cups, so in it went!

Fresh parsley and grated pecorino for garnish

We'll be moving soon, so I want to cook all the little bits and pieces that are in my fridge and cupboard so I don't need to move them!  I was digging around in the bottom shelf of my pantry today and found a bag of dried porcini mushrooms from one of E's favorite places, the Atlantic Spice Company.  I also had some  barley and soup veggies in the fridge, so I was set.

The last time I cooked barley, I made a red wine and mushroom risotto and it was a bit of a disgrace! Basically, I wasted a lot of food and no one wanted to eat it.  So I decided to do a bit of research and check out a few different recipes to find something truly lovely.  I wasn't disappointed!

First, I used about 2-3 ounces of dried porchini mushrooms.  This looked like about 1 cup of dried mushrooms, loosely packed.  I soaked them in 2 cups of boiling water. We will use this water later, so don't pour it away! Could have used a little more mushrooms, but we still had great flavor. E could have liked the mushrooms chopped a little larger so he could have had bites of 'shroom.

In a large stock pot, I heated a bit of olive oil and lightly sauteed 3 medium onions, 3 ribs of celery, 4 medium carrots, 6 cloves of garlic with a hefty pinch of kosher salt and black pepper.  I cooked it over a medium heat with the lid on till the veggies were slightly caramelized.  I added a handful of parsley, chopped and stirred, then moved the veggies to the sides of the pot and dumped about 2-3 T of tomato puree in, and let it cook a bit. This caramelizes the sugar in the tomato paste and gets great flavor out of it. Some people like E think they don't like tomato paste, but I believe it's because they don't cook it properly.  (TIP - when I open a can of paste, I store the remainder of the paste not needed for the recipe in the freezer. I make sure to portion it into small amounts, like 1.5T or so and either wrap it in saran wrap or like last time, simply plop the amount in different corners of a tupperware and tossed it in the freezer) Brought the heat up to medium high, and mixed all together and let it cook a few minutes.

After the mushrooms have soaked for about 30 minutes, pour off the liquid through a sieve. Maybe use a cheesecloth or paper towel, as gritty bits tend to come off.  Chop the mushrooms finely. E suggests not so finely, a matter of personal preference.

As the veggie and tomato paste mixture has been cooking a few minutes and getting super delicious, add the mushroom liquid.  Bring it to a boil and mix well. Use an immersion blender to puree all the bits and make it thick and delicious, then add the chopped mushrooms.  Add about 8 cups of water or stock.  I used water and a bit of stock concentrate, better than beef bullion, veggie style.  Add 1.5 cups of barley, bring to boil and cook at a low boil for 60-90 minutes, depending on how you like your barley.  Add salt to taste.

Serve with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and I grated a bit of pecorino romano cheese on top.