Soupruary 13th: Mushroom Barley

By guest host Jonathan

It’s possible, but unlikely, that I could have picked a less convenient day to host Soupruary at the BAD coop. Being the first Monday of term, I had class starting at 10:30, and classes and meetings going straight through to 5pm. And I know, to regular working folk this seems like a short day, but I get myself into trouble when I design menus, and this one was no different.

It was a frigid morning. The wind blowing past my window made a sound like a toothless bar wench trying to whistle La Marseillaise. I pulled my collar up high and trudged into the morning gloom, heading for the one place I knew I’d be welcome. I’ve made so many enemies over the years, its a miracle I still have Harvest. The Central Square bums scattered as I approached, leaving urine stains along the sidewalk. I didn’t change my stride – not the most disturbing thing I’d have to step in that day. After all, this was the day that I cooked… MUSHROOM BARLEY SOUP.

Location: The BAD coop. This nine-person cooperative tries to host a few big dinners a month in which the extended BAD community can get together around our well laquered dining room table. Soupruary offered a great opportunity to merge the two events.

Guests: A mix of BAD residents, BADfood guests, and Soupruarians. At the peak we had nineteen people in the room! Aron, Becca, Danielle, Jackie, Jenny, Jonathan, Josh, Karen (x2), Kate, Laurie, Leah, Louisa, Mark, Noel, Tavia, Tiffany, Will, Zoz

Menu: Mushroom barley soup, warmed hearty bread, spinach salad with deliciousness, and a wall of ice cream

The entertainment:

A proud BADdie, Clay, works at Tosci’s, and periodically brings home extra ice cream for the house. The other night, the walls came down, as Clay came home with two crates filled with pint and half-pint containers of ice cream. No count was taken, but it was more than would fit in entire kitchen freezer. This phenomenon will forever be known as the WALL OF ICE CREAM. People were invited to enjoy such esoteric flavors as pink grapefruit sorbet, peanut butter and jelly, vietnamese coffee, Mitch (?), and “peppermint stick for that one guy.”

The soup:

Mushroom barley is a relatively straightforward concoction, but wouldn’t be mistaken for one of the less labor intensive, especially as vegetarian soups go. After shopping in the morning, I returned home at 5:30 ready to start preparations. From the recipe, I knew that the stock needed to cook for 90 minutes before even the mushrooms went in, and then 20 minutes more, so I needed the soup on the stove at 6, assuming 10 minutes to get it boiling and an 8pm dinner bell. I also thought that that 90 minutes would give me plenty of time to go shopping for and prepare the other course of the meal, a spinach salad with goat cheese, cranberries, toasted walnuts, and a lemon juice / cider vinegar / honey dressing. But nobody told me how much time chopping takes, especially when you’re tripling the recipe. Good thing the other two pieces of the meal were provided: crusty bread warmed in the oven before dinner and the WALL OF ICE CREAM.

Alternative soup vessel – the goblet:

The recipe for the soup was taken lovingly from the Joan Nathan Jewish Holiday Cookbook (http://www.amazon.com/Joan-Nathans-Jewish-Holiday-Cookbook/dp/0805242171). She presented this soup to be served as a part of a Purim meal, which is a Jewish holiday similar in celebration to Halloween (but which still hews to the universal Jewish holiday theme: They tried to kill us, We survived, Let’s eat). Other than timing (Purim 2012 is on March 7), it is not clear why this soup is Purim-themed, which is best known for Hamentaschen, triangular-shaped cookies filled with such delectables as prunes and poppy seeds (this is how we celebrate escaping genocide? Oy va voy.)

Mushroom Barley Soup recipe:

I tripled the recipe in the book. My quantities are shown below.

In a large saucepan (I used a giant soup pot) bring the following to a boil:

– 2 28 oz cans of canned plum tomatoes, chopped, with the juice

– 6 qt water

– 3 onions, thinly sliced

– 6 stalks celery with leaves, diced

– 6 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

– 1.5 green peppers, chopped

– 1.5 cups whole pearled barley

– 1.5 cups small dried lima beans

Simmer, covered, for 90 minutes.

Add the following:

– 3 carrots, sliced (I used closer to 8 small-ish carrots. it ended up being a bit carroty)

– 3 lbs mushrooms, sliced*

– 6 tsp salt

– 6 tsp snipped fresh dill

*Mushrooms are what you make of them. I used the following quantities and types to make the 3 lbs:

– 1 lb cremini

– 0.5 lb shiitake

– 0.5 lb baby bella

– 3 oz dried porcini (equivalent to 1 lb, according to the internets)

Let cool a bit, serve and enjoy! Some people added hot sauce, some added goat cheese. Most ate with warmed, hearty bread.