Mushroom Barley Soup

Third time's the charm, it seems.

 

The secret is to use sherry and a little flour.

Ingredients:

500 gr. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup barley
1/4 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fine herbs
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 teaspoons all purpose flour
2 liters water
3 chicken bullion cubes, low-fat, low-sodium
1/4 cup sherry
2 bay leaves
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

In a soup pot heat the olive oil, next add the mushrooms and saute for about three minutes. Add the barley (raw), garlic and onion, keep cooking until the mushroom begin to brown, or about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir well. Keep cooking until the mushrooms are a nice golden brown, or around two minutes more. Reduce the heat to medium and add the sherry. Stir well and cook for about a minute. Reduce heat to low and add the water. Bring to a slow boil. When the water's hot, add the bay leaves and fine herbs. When it begins to bubble, add the bullion cubes.

Let the soup simmer until the barley's tender. Taste from time to time and add pepper and Worcestershire as needed.

Onion Soup

This had all the makings of  a disaster. Really. I looked at dozens of recipes and couldn't settle on one. I forgot to get beef broth. I had last minute ideas. Well, all things considered it turned out almost right. I'll tell you what I did, and what I should have done:

Mmmmm... soup!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Olive oil
2 Large onions, cut into large pieces
1 Clove of garlic, minced
1 Bay leaf
8 Cups (2 liters) chicken broth (I use low-fat and low-sodium)
1/2 cup white wine
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. Soy sauce (I use low-sodium)
Worcestershire sauce to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onions and garlic. I cooked the onions until they were soft and somewhat translucent. this turned out well, but I think I should have cooked them until they were softer an almost transparent. In any case, you want to stir them constantly so they won't burn.

When they're close to done, add the wine, soy sauce and vinegar. For the sake of convenience, it would be best to combine them in a cup or bowl beforehand. Reduce the heat to medium and keep cooking and stirring for a few minutes, until the liquid is reduced to about half.

Add the chicken broth and the bay leaf. Reduce the heat to minimum and bring to a slow boil, stirring on occasion. When it boils, add the Worcestershire if you like. Let it simmer for a few minutes and remove from the heat.

I have it plain out of the pot, but there's no reason you can't add a slice of garlic bread and grated cheese on top. If the soup's not hot enough to melt the cheese, you can pop it in an oven for a minute or two, I suppose (I haven't tried it). Or just add some croutons.