Pearl Barley Soup

Healthy and hearty soups don’t need to be a bowl of tasteless broth with a few chopped vegetables thrown in for colour!  Pearl Barley Soup is just as delicious as it looks! It is full of good-for-you vegetables and prepared with delicious barley too!

It’s my favourite time of the year – almost! Christmas is my favourite time of the year, but soup season is a very close second!  I love when the weather turns cold and the days get shorter.  I get overly excited for piping hot soups, like this Pearl Barley Soup, and I love to wear socks and slippers around the house all day long.

That January and February weather; the cold and the frost, paired with the snow and ice – oh, I love it! Not only do I get to wear fleecy socks and sweaters, but I also get to layer the bed with extra blankets! And, I get to sip hot coffee while watching TV in the late evening, and I get to prepare and eat more soups.  There’s a whole list of things I love about colder weather, especially being able to crochet with yarns instead of threads.  (Crocheters will know what I’m talking about!) 

So, in addition to the socks, the sweaters, the shorter days, etc., the comfort of homecooked soups and stews greatly appeal to me.  (This post is starting to sound like that song in The Sound of Music… what’s it called?  My Favourite Things?) A great dinnertime option, I would wager any time of the year, but more so during the cooler months, is my Pearl Barley Soup.  This soup is dense, and has such a rich flavour, and the broth is thick and seasoned just perfectly.  Let’s dig in!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Olive Oil – I always use extra virgin light olive oil so that the flavour is muted.  Olive oil has a high heat tolerance, so it’s perfect for sautéing.
• Onion – I use yellow, white, and sweet onions interchangeably.  Either of them will do just fine.
• Carrots – I save my thinner carrots for crudités because they tend to be sweeter. If you buy carrots by the bag, use the larger carrots for soups and stews. Plus, with larger carrots, you can get a more even dice.
• Celery – I love celery in soup, but it can overpower the flavour, so use it sparingly.
• Garlic – Fresh garlic will result in the best flavour every single time. 
• Vegetable Stock – If you are using store-bought, use low sodium. Some of them can be overly salty!
• Diced Tomatoes – Use canned diced tomatoes and add the juice to the pot as well.
• Seasonings – Salt, ground black pepper, dried basil, and dried oregano.
• Pearl Barley – Texture, flavour, and health benefits all come from the addition of barley.
• Green Beans – Use frozen green beans in this soup.
• Green Peas – Again, use frozen green peas in this soup.
• Corn – Like the green beans, use frozen corn. They are both added at the end to just heat through and not overcook them.
• Parsley – For freshness, colour, and garnish.

HOW TO MAKE PEARL BARLEY SOUP

Use a heavy-bottomed pot with a heavy lid when preparing this soup. The soup does need to be boiled. A heavy lid will prevent the stock from evaporating too much. When ready to cook, add the onion, carrots, celery, and olive oil to the pot. Over medium-high heat, sauté the vegetables for 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, and ground black pepper. Sauté for another 2 minutes. Be sure to stir often.

Next, add the canned tomatoes, vegetable stock, dried basil and dried oregano. Continue to cook over medium-high heat until the broth comes to a boil. Add in the barley, stir well and reduce the heat to medium. Place the lid on the pot, and simmer the soup for 25-30 minutes, or until the barley is cooked through. Be sure to stir the soup every 5-7 minutes. If the soup looks like it doesn’t have enough liquid, add one cup of water, stir well and continue to cook.

Next, add in the frozen green beans, green peas, and corn. Stir into the soup. Place a lid on the pot and cook for 3-5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Taste and add more salt if needed. Depending on the stock you used, you may need to adjust the seasoning. Finally, stir through the fresh parsley and serve.

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF BARLEY

Barley is a grain that doesn’t seem to get much attention. We love it, but still, we never eat it very much. In our home, it certainly does seem like a cold weather ingredient. For example, it’s the star of my Warm Barley Salad with Buttered Mushrooms and Shallots. And, I used it in yet another soup recipe, this time, it was my Barley Ground Beef Stew.

With its chewy texture and its nutty flavour, barley is a delicious grain that can be used in a number of ways, way beyond this soup. It is also a very nutritious and healthy food, with lots of fibre and a number of trace minerals like selenium, manganese and phosphorus.

Barley is available in two basic forms: hulled and pearl. Hulled barley has had the tough, inedible outermost hull removed but still retains its bran and endosperm layer. It is the most nutritious of the two and can be considered a whole grain. A light golden brown in colour, it’s the nuttier and chewier version as well. In contrast, pearl barley has been polished to remove the bran and possibly even the endosperm layers, resulting in a pale, creamy-coloured grain. It is less chewy and cooks faster. I’m using pearl barley in this soup.

THE HOLY TRINITY OF A GOOD SOUP

Have you ever heard of a mirepoix? Sometimes, it’s referred to as the Holy Trinity of cooking. It is a flavour base made from diced vegetables cooked in some type of fat, usually, butter or oil. The veggies are sometimes cooked for a long period of time on very low heat. The goal is not brown the veggies. Other times, they are cooked on a higher heat to bring out the natural sweetness. This is usually the case in soups.

A mirepoix is most often found combined with tomatoes or tomato paste. This creates a darker, brown mixture called a pincage. It is a long-standing cooking technique in French cuisine. Mirepoix is widely used to flavour a variety of Western dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces.

In Italian cuisine, the onions, carrots and celery are chopped to form a battuto. It is slowly cooked in butter or olive oil, becoming soffritto. It is used as the base for most pasta sauces, such as ragu, but occasionally it can be used as the base of other dishes, such as sautéed vegetables. Most of the time, the Italian version will also include garlic, shallots, or even leeks.

FREEZING AND RE-HEATING

When freezing Pearl Barley Soup, I like to make sure it’s completely cooled. The best way to do this is to just turn off the heat, remove the lid, and let the pot of soup just sit at room temperature for at least ninety minutes. Then, stir well to ensure the veggies have not settled at the bottom.

Portion as you wish. I like to portion two cups per person. Use a freezer-friendly container with a very tight-fitting lid. Also, be sure to label the soup so you know what it is!

To reheat, allow the frozen soup to sit at room temperature for at least two hours. Then, slowly simmer in a covered saucepan with two or three tablespoons of water. This will create some steam and get the soup back to where it should be – hot, hearty, and delicious!!