Mushroom kale and barley soup
This hearty soup has enough depth and texture to satisfy you, and it will fill your house with wonderful aromas. It makes for a healthy meatless meal, and you can even keep it vegan by using vegetable broth.
Servings: 8
Calories: 202kcal
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup hulled barley (or pearled barley if unavailable)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms sliced
- 2 large garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 8 cups vegetable or chicken stock or 8 cups water + 8 tsp dehydrated vegetable or chicken bouillon
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 oz kale stemmed and washed thoroughly, sliced thin.
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large amount of salted water to a boil, add hulled barley and cook for 45 minutes. If using pearled barley, follow package directions. Drain thoroughly and reserve. This should yield about 2 to 2-1/4 cups of cooked barley.
- Heat the oil in a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, and add the onion. Cook, stirring often, until just about tender, about five minutes.
- Add the sliced mushrooms. Cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are beginning to soften, about three minutes.
- Add the garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, thyme, a pinch of nutmeg. Continue to cook for about five minutes, until the mixture is juicy and fragrant.
- Add the broth or water + bouillon. Add bay leaf. Stir, cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
- Add the kale and simmer another 10 minutes.
- At this point, your soup is almost ready to eat. One serving of soup requires 1-1/2 cup of this preparation + 1/4 cup of cooked barley. Separate and reserve the portion of soup you will not be eating right away, let it cool and refrigerate it.
- Measure the appropriate amount of barley in proportion to the number of servings you will be eating. As an example, for 2 servings of soup, use about 3 cups of preparation + 1/2 cup of barley. Add the measured barley to the soup and heat it through for a few minutes just before serving. Add fresh ground pepper to taste.
- Keeping the barley separate from the soup prevents is from soaking up more liquid while sitting in the refrigerator. Otherwise the next day your soup will become a soggy mush...
Nutrition
Serving: 1.75cup | Calories: 202kcal | Total Carbohydrate: 25g | Protein: 10g | Total Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 508mg | Potassium: 580mg | Dietary Fiber: 5g | Total Sugars: 5g | Vitamin A: 2850IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Vitamin D: 0.03µg | Calcium: 95mg | Iron: 2mg