Mushroom-Barley Soup

By Mark Bittman

Published January 15, 2002

  • Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
4(1,526)
Comments
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Soup made without meat or meat broth can be insipid. That's why most people think pea soup needs ham and mushroom-barley soup needs beef. But it's possible to make a satisfying, even hearty, vegetarian soup if you choose your ingredients carefully and extract every bit of flavor from them. Enter this mushroom-barley soup, a vegetarian dish with real body, texture and depth of flavor. The key ingredient here is dried porcini, which can be reconstituted in hot water in less than 10 minutes, giving you the best-tasting mushrooms you can find outside the woods and an intensely flavored broth that rivals beef stock. Don’t forget to toast the barley while really browning the mushrooms and carrots — it lends a deep warmth.

Featured in: THE MINIMALIST; Beefy Soup Without The Beef

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms (about 1 cup)

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • ¼ pound shiitake or button mushrooms, stemmed and roughly chopped

  • 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

  • 1 cup pearl barley

  • Salt and pepper

  • 1 bay leaf

  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

68 grams carbs; 362 calories; 5 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 8 grams fat; 14 grams fiber; 393 milligrams sodium; 11 grams protein; 4 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Soak porcini in 3 cups very hot water. Put olive oil in a medium saucepan and turn heat to high. Add shiitakes and carrots, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown. Add barley, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to brown; sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Remove the porcini from their soaking liquid, and reserve liquid. Sort through porcini and discard any hard bits.

  2. Step 2

    Add porcini to pot and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add bay leaf, mushroom soaking water and 3 cups additional water (or stock, if you prefer). Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer; cook until barley is very tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Add soy sauce, and taste. Add salt if necessary and plenty of pepper. Serve hot.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
1,526 user ratings
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Comments

Linda

I've discovered pearl barley absorbs liquid and continues to do so.....it will no longer be a soup tomorrow. Try using real barley....takes a bit longer to cook, but is healthier and doesn't turn you soup into a stew.

kitchenonfire

Oh, and I threw in a Parmesan rind while it was cooking. It added a nice extra dimension of flavor.

BERFB

This was good, but needed tweaking. I added a good splash of cognac as my first liquid. I used a beef stock instead of the water and added fresh thyme with the bay leaf. This definitely needs several grinds of fresh pepper at the end.

Canadian Cook

Added Parmesan rind as recommended by kitchen on fire, increased the mushrooms, added chopped dill and coriander. The barley absorbed all the stock but I can add more before serving or eat it as a casserole.

Alex

I really loved this. Added a splash of red wine and a couple parmesan wine since I had them on hand. Such deep flavor! Satisfying on a frigid day.

Nathan

The only reason a soup of any kind -- meat or vegetarian -- would be flavorless is because the cook didn't put any flavorful ingredients in. There's no reason to demean vegetarian soups when the cause is the cook.

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