Today, it was sunny but extremely cold, and I was in the mood for a hearty soup. I took a look at what I had in the house and came up with this easy recipe. My daughter asked me to write it down, because, given my highly-scientific approach to cooking, I don’t seem to be able to replicate anything otherwise.

What I had in my pantry

1lb of chicken breasts

1 sweet potato

100 gr pearled barley

100gr precooked farro (spelt)

100 gr green split peas

100 gr fresh spinach

How I prepared the soup:

I filled my pressure cooker pot (which I don’t think  I’ve ever used as such—too scared it’s going to  explode. I’ve heard stories…) with water, cranked the stove to high and dunked the chicken inside. Waited until it boiled, then lowered to the lowest setting and added the sweet potato cut in big chunks, the split peas, and the pearled barley. I let it cook for almost two hours, added the precooked farro ten minutes to the end, turned off the heat and added the spinach. I served it as is for my daughter and myself, but cooked 50 gr of mini-farfalle pasta to incorporate in my son’s bowl, which was also finished with some extra-virgin olive oil and parmesan cheese.