Vegetable soup with barley

[serenissima]

Yesterday was cold and rainy. We even had sleet for a short time. Most unusual. The cold has persisted into this morning: it's below freezing out now.

I made soup last night, with barley and mushrooms, garlic and onion, a handful of baby carrots and a couple stalks of the celery we bought to make stuffing for Thanksgiving. Half the bunch of celery is left, and it's going limp. I wonder what to do with it besides throwing it away.

I didn't time the soup-making very well. I put the celery in too early and it got overcooked, and a lot of the liquid boiled away, so there's not as much broth as I'd like. Here's the order in which I'd do things next time:

1. Wash the barley and start boiling it. (I don't think barley can get overcooked.)


2. Clean and chop all the vegetables, except maybe the onion since it's quickest.


3. Carrots go into the soup.


4. Begin to saute the mushrooms with the garlic in a separate pan.


5. Chop the onion.


6. Celery goes into the soup. Add water if necessary.


7. Mushrooms & garlic go into the soup. Add water if necessary.


8. Saute the onion in the same pan from the mushrooms.


9. Onion goes into the soup.


10. Add salt & pepper; taste to determine appropriate amounts.

It will probably be easier to use water instead of chicken broth, because then I don't have to worry about getting the amount right at the beginning. Might experiment with including some herbs, too.

Estimated amounts of ingredients:

• somewhat less than a cup of pearled barley


• 16 oz. package of mushrooms


• 1 large onion


• 4 large cloves of garlic


• 3 stalks of celery


• about a dozen "baby" carrots -- consider using more next time


• 1 tbsp. black pepper


• didn't put in any salt this time -- need some next time


• 4 x 14.5 oz cans of chicken broth -- less would boil away if I timed it better

Comments

[breimh.livejournal.com]

If the celery is starting to go limp, then clean and cut it, and put it in wrapped paper towels on a shelf in the refrigerator to keep it a bit longer.

You can always use it in various soups, casseroles, with roast meats, or just munch on it with some tomato juice, cheese, or peanut butter. :)

The soup sounds good, to me. But then, I'm not one for much broth, preferring more substance in a meal.

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

Yeah... soups and casseroles, I know... but I don't make those much, and I don't especially like celery. :)