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.

Grilled Lamb T-Bones with Fava Bean Salad

About a year ago Iron Chef and Restaurateur, Michael Symon, visited Detroit's Eastern Market for a cooking demo. I was very excited to be able to attend this event. The dish he prepared was Grilled Lamb T-Bones with a Spring Vegetable Salad. It was a recipe included in his then forthcoming book, "Michael Symon's Live To Cook: Recipes and Techniques To Rock Your Kitchen".

Now I have never eaten lamb, ever, but this dish looked so good I really wanted to try it. Unfortunately, at the time, I had to wait until the release of his book, which wasn't until November of that year, then had to wait until Spring rolled around as the recipe included fava beans and asparagus, and fresh fava's weren't available in the market until mid-April.

After waiting a year, I finally get to try this recipe. Aside from the lamb t-bones, or lamb loin chops as they may be labeled, the recipe includes a wonderfully fresh tasting salad made up of fresh fava beans, asparagus, a few chilies (for a speck of heat), fresh mint, garlic, kalamata olives and feta cheese.

Note, the chilies that are called for in the recipe are pickeled "Fresno" chilies. These were extremely hard to find in my area. Serrano Chilies are an acceptable substitute and were even found pickeled in the Mexican Food section of my supermarket!

First thing to do is season the lamb t-bones with a combination of kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, toasted coriander seeds (crushed), red pepper flakes and sugar. You season both sides, cover them and refrigerate for 24 hours.

When the lamb is ready, grill them on a hot grill pan (or a hot charcoal grill outdoors), for about 4 minutes per side for medium rare.

While the lamb is grilling mix together all the salad ingredients, and dress with extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt & pepper.

When the lamb is ready, plate 2 t-bones per person and top with the salad.

Now, this being my first time tasting lamb I was very pleased with the results and the dish was as delicious as I thought it would be! Many people told me lamb would have a "gamey" taste. Honestly, I thought it tasted like a grilled steak. Excellent Spring or Summer dinner!