Quick-Cooking Mushroom Barley Soup

Submitted by Eat Your Vegetables

"This New York style mushroom barley soup is fast to make and super comforting in the winter. This recipe was adopted from Lorna Sass' Short-cut vegetarian cookbook."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 16
• Serves: 5-6

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1⁄2 cups onions, coarsely chopped
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 6 cups boiling water
• 1⁄4 cup tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons instant vegetable stock powder
• 1⁄2 cup quick-cooking barley
• 1⁄2 ounce dried mushroom, sliced and rinsed
• 3 large carrots, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 2 large celery ribs, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 2 -3 teaspoons fresh dill
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2 -4 tablespoons dry sherry (optional)
• 1 -2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (optional)
• fresh ground black pepper

directions

1. In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the onions and garlic for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
2. Add the boiling water, tomato paste, stock powder, barley, mushrooms, carrots, celery, 2 t dill, the thyme and salt. Stir well and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Taste and add up to 1 t more dill if you like. Cover and simmer until the vegetables and barley are tender, about 5 more minutes.
4. If you wish, enhance the flavor with either sherr or balsamic vinegar, and add black peppr to taste.

Reviews

[William Uncle Bill]

I found this soup to have a good vegetable combination, however, very tasteless. In my opinion it requires some spices to enhance the flavor. It is somewhat suprising to me that you are a vegetarian foody and would post a recipe such as this without giving it a good tryout yourself. I made this soup a second time and added some various spices and the soup turned out super great. You may wish to reconsider your ingredients and re-submit. "Uncle Bill"