winter soup

Soups are among my favorite dishes. They are for the most part easy to prepare and rewarding both in taste and calories counting. Since my household has recently acquired a pescatarian, I’ve been trying old and new recipes to feed the repentant carnivore. Lentil and pearled barley soup was on the menu yesterday night.

What I had in the pantry:

1 cup and 1 quarter cup of lentils

half a cup of pearled barley

1 can of organic tomato sauce (Kirkland brand)

salt

French baguette

extra virgin olive oil (half of tablespoon per plate)

How I prepared the soup:

I filled a pot with water and added the tomato sauce, lentils, and barley. I let it cook at slow heat for two hours until the soup was creamy and only then added the salt. Meanwhile, I cut the baguette in pieces and toasted them. When the soup was ready, I arranged a few pieces of bread in each plate, sprinkled them with the evoo and some red pepper, and finally covered with the soup. Delicious. *

*After finished eating, I went upstairs to edit some writing and forgot about the half baguette on the table. Nero happened…

Stay tuned for more details.

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.

Monica La Porta

Menu

Lentil and Pearled Barley Soup

Winter Soup