Russian Mushroom and Barley Soup

"Deep hearty flavor. Excellent recipe. Found it on the Internet-said it was adapted from Darra Goldstein's book "A Taste of Russia" Notes: 01/07/08: Barley's cooking time varies(I've had quick barley take 45 minutes to cook)so in step 6, cook until tender enough to your taste. The soup may require more liquid; I now keep a 4th can of consomme on hand to add, along with another 1 1/4 cups of water if it's getting too thick."
 
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Ready In:
1hr 30mins
Ingredients:
17
Serves:
6
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ingredients

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directions

  • If using dried mushrooms, soak them in 1/2 cup of hot water for about 20 minutes.
  • Slice and set aside, reserving soaking water, too.
  • Put the oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven,add 2 tablespoons of the butter and melt the butter over medium heat.
  • Saute the onions and garlic, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent.
  • Stir in the consomme and water and add the potato, celery, carrots, bay leaves, dill, barley and the reconstituted mushrooms and soaking water.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste, bring the soup to the boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 15 minutes (about an hour if using regular barley), until the barley is tender.
  • Clean the fresh mushrooms, cut off and discard woody stem ends, and cut the smaller mushrooms in half and the larger ones into quarters.
  • Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan and saute the mushrooms until some liquid has been yielded and no raw color shows.
  • Stir mushrooms and liquid into the soup and simmer 5 minutes.
  • Remove and discard the bay leaves.
  • Just before serving, put the sour cream in a medium bowl and stir a cup or so of hot soup into it to temper it.
  • Stir the diluted sour cream into the soup and serve immediately (don't cook the sour cream), garnished if you like with strips of lemon zest.

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Reviews

  1. My wife is from Russia and she raved how it tasted exactly like homemade Russian soup. It was gone in a day. We will be adding this to our regular meal rotation. Thanks again.
     
  2. Found this recipe and made it right away. Scrumptious! As others have said, it's hearty with great flavor and very satisfying. I did not use the dried mushrooms as I didn't have any on-hand. It was just fine without them though I'm sure they would add some additional rich flavor. Definitely a keeper!
     
  3. getting cold here in sydney.... yum
     
  4. great flavor, my husband loved it, and even my fickle toddler ate it. It's a keeper!
     
  5. I had a similiar mushroom soup many years ago when I lived in another state and have been trying to find a recipe for a mushroom soup that wasn't cream based. Thanks so much for posting this! I love this soup!
     
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Tweaks

  1. I used veggie boullion in place of the consomme and about half the butter called for(trying to reduce our fat intake). This turned out more like a casserole than a soup, but that may be because I used pearl barley instead of instant. Nonetheless, this dish has incredible flavour and is very filling. I tried it without the sour cream and loved it so I skipped adding it. Thanks for a great vegetarian recipe.
     
  2. great soup I substituted french onion soup mix for the consomme worked out very well. everyone thought it was very meaty.
     

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