Mushroom-Barley Soup
Prep Time
30 minutes
Total Time
2 hours
Ingredients
- ½ cup steel cut oats cooked in 2 cups water (optional)
- 1 cup dried sliced porcini, rehydrated in hot water
- 1 cup dried shiitake, reconstituted in the fridge overnight
- ½ cups mixed fresh mushrooms (e.g., cremini, king oyster, shiitake, enoki), cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 cups whole “hull-less” brown barley, soaked overnight or sprouted for 2 days
- Handful of fresh thyme sprigs or 2 Tablespoons dried thyme leaves
- 2 Tablespoons good quality soy sauce or tamari
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 leeks, cleaned well and sliced
- 1 medium large red onion, medium dice
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- Organic carrot, peeled and sliced
- 2 quarts of veggie broth, unsalted
- 2 stalks celery, medium dice
Directions
- Prepare your steel-cut oats in advance (make double and enjoy topped with fruit for breakfast). Stir frequently to prevent sticking and to become creamy and uniform. Allow to cool and congeal.
- In a large soup pot, dry sautéonion over medium-high heat until it softens, begins to caramelize and adheres to the bottom of the pan. Deglaze the pan with a minimal amount of broth–just enough to dissolve the adhered sugars. Add the thyme, garlic, carrots, celery and leeks, our aromatics. Cook 5 minutes.
- Drain the dried shiitakes, discarding the soaking water. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Drain the porcini but reserve the liquid. Add all mushrooms to the soup pot, stirring. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Drain the barley. Add to the pot with enough stock to cover the veggies. As it cooks, the barley will absorb liquid, so add more broth as you go. Raise the flame to high until you reach a simmer, then lower to continue. Stir periodically.
- When your barley and veggies are softened, the soup is close to ready. Season with soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. For a creamy finish, thin your cooked oats with a little broth, if needed. Stir well to create a thick, smooth consistency and add to the pot. As the soup cools, it may thicken further. If you need to thin on reheating, simply add a little more broth.
Recipe Note
This hearty soup delivers on taste and warms our bellies and the cockles of our heart! Loaded with a beneficial prebiotic fiber in mushrooms known as beta-glucan, as well as barley and oatmeal that our beneficial gut microbes adore, it tastes quite creamy and delicious. A nutritional win-win!
Enjoy it as a starter or a main course with a big leafy salad and some crusty wholegrain bread.
Cathy Katin-Grazzini, plant-based chef, cooking instructor, and nutritional coach, is Food Editor for VEGWORLD Magazine, owner of Cathy’s Kitchen Prescription LLC, and Plant-Based Culinary Medicine Educator and Chef at Matrix Personalized Medicine in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Certified in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell, a graduate of Rouxbe Cooking School’s Professional Plant-Based Program, Cathy is also a Licensed Instructor for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s Food for Life Programs. She has a B.A. from the University of Chicago, attended graduate school at Harvard University and received a M.A. from Johns Hopkins University. Cathy lives with her husband Giordano in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Cathy’s original recipes, cooking videos, and nutritional blog can be found at www.cathyskitchenprescription.com.
