Thursday, September 9, 2010

Slow-Cooker Bean and Barley Soup

Serve this delicious hearty and healthy soup during the comfortable days of Autumn as well as the cold days of Winter! It guarantees to satisfy!

A helpful tip: Soak the beans overnight, in about 8 cups of cold water, just for a little re-assurance that they will not be "crunchy" when the soup is finished.

Ingredients
  • 1 cup dried Great Northern beans, picked over and rinsed
  • 6 cups water
  • 1 (14-ounce) can whole tomatoes, with juice
  • 3 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 2 ribs celery, chopped
  • 2 medium carrot, chopped
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup pearl barley
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 teaspoons dried Italian herb blend
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, optional
  • 3 cups cleaned baby spinach leaves (about 3 ounces)
  • 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • Coarse Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper to season
  • Extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Put beans, water, tomatoes and their juices, garlic, celery, carrots, onion, barley, bay leaf, herb blend, pepper, and porcini mushrooms (if using) in a slow cooker; cover and cook on LOW until the beans are quite tender and the soup is thick, about 8 hours.

Stir in the spinach, cheese, and vinegar, cover, and let the soup cook until the spinach wilts, about 5 minutes. Taste and season with salt and black pepper, to taste.

Ladle the soup into warmed bowls and drizzle each serving with olive oil.


4 comments:

  1. Funny, don't know why the first paragraph keeps posting larger than the rest! I set the font size all the same. Hmmmmm.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I made this yesterday (without the expensive shrooms) and it was great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eric, Porcini mushrooms are not that expensive. I got them at Meijer for just a few dollars.

    ReplyDelete
  4. There you go with Meijer again! They were about $6-7 at Hollywood Market.

    ReplyDelete