The soupy combination of mushrooms and barley epitomizes a perfect union, full of robust love and flavor -- indisputably. I made the “Quickest Mushroom-Barley Soup” from the October 2008 issue of Everyday Food, not in the interest of making a “quickie” soup (I did not use “quick-cooking” barley, even), but simply to enjoy this adored soup again. Since I chose to use regular barley, my soup took 48 minutes to cook, rather than 10 minutes. But when a soup cooks itself, this isn’t much of a hardship to bear.
I initially seasoned my mushrooms, onion, garlic, and thyme with 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. black pepper. At the end, I added another 1 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. black pepper to the soup. We adored the mouth-feel of the silky mushrooms. My young child loved this soup.
I was excited to try the “Pumpkin and Pecorino Gratin,” from the same October 2008 issue of Everyday Food, in order to use some of the sugar-pumpkin purée that I froze from the holidays. I learned an important lesson from this recipe: Pecorino Romano cheese is intensely salty and should be used judiciously. Instead of using 2 slices of white bread for my crumbs, I used a pita bread. This made great crumbs in my food processor. I added 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. black pepper to my crumb/cheese mix, but as I warned, the added salt was unnecessary.
I baked the gratin for 20 minutes in a small Dutch oven. After tasting the powerful cheese topping, I’ve considered trying dry breadcrumbs mixed with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, if I were to make this again. Tell me what you try.
RECIPES: a mushroom-barley soup needs no salesman; work with the gratin to balance your sweet with your salt
PREP TIMES: barley takes an hour to cook (quick-cooking would be quicker!); the gratin is cooked in 20 minutes
TASTES: silky heartiness makes a wonderful soup; sugar-pumpkin sweetness is nice when accented by a crunchy topping and (a little bit) of salty cheese
Who’s ready to try another chili, next time? I will cook the “Fantastic Black Bean Chili,” from Allrecipes.com. Return to my site on Sunday, February 1, to see how fabulous this one is.
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