Onion & Barley Soup

 I add some nice little green beans from the garden.

Cheese is expensive. Especially good cheese. I live in an area ripe with artisan cheese makers and a long dairy history. Check out this cheese map of Vermont. The raw milk, small herds and the hands on approach shows in quality and price. We have a cheese maker who only uses milk from the afternoon for one of his products. That's working the details.

What's all this got to do with soup? Soup is cheap. Use your Aga properly and it doesn't even take much attention. This batch of soup allows me to buy a proper cheese. One made from 100 % Gurnseys, turned and washed over 50 times. Caramel in color and a creamy texture perfect for melting over a baguette. I digress. Soup is the topic of conversation. Sweet affordable onions and tender but firm barley. Doesn't get much cheaper than that.

 

Let's see how this went down in the Aga Kitchen. Give yourself four hours but very little actual working time. This will feed four comfortably.

Onion & Barley Soup

Gather up these tools and ingredients. Remember there are no rules in soup. This is a pretty good starting point. The way I draw out the juice from the onions and use it to cook the barley is pretty slick and you should do that.

• your favorite heavy bottomed soup pot with lid,  3 qts or bigger
• 4 cups of medium diced onion, about 3 softball size onions
• 2 celery stalks peeled and small dice
• 1 herb bouquet (a few sprigs each of parsley, thyme, sage etc) tied in cheesecloth*
• 1 carrot small dice
• 1/2 cup barley rinsed
• 2 qt stock, chicken, beef or veg
• a knob of butter
• 1/4 cup sherry or madeira
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar* or red wine vinegar

*I know this is supposed to be some simple soup recipe and here I am using sherry vinegar and cheesecloth. You can just wrap up your herbs tight with string or tie them in a coffee filter. As for the vinegar, substitute or man up and buy some good smoky sherry vinegar

Melt the knob of butter with equal part water in your Simmer Oven while you dice your onions, vegetables and make your herb bouquet

Add the onions, vegetables and herbs to the butter/water mixture. Sprinkle with salt. Lid on and into Baking Oven for 15 minutes. Be sure to scrape down the sides so nothing sticks and dries out.

Timer goes beep and into Simmer Oven for 2 hours. Check after a hour and give a nice stir remembering to scrape down the sides. It's important so I repeat it. It's important so I repeat it.

Timer goes beep after the two hours and we add the barley. There should be a nice little collection of sweet onion juice in the bottom of the pan. The barley will soak all that up. Cook for additional 45 minutes.

Put the pot on the Simmer Plate and add the alcohol and vinegar. Let it cook for a minute then add the stock and honey. Into the Roasting Oven so everything comes to nice simmer, taste, adjust and serve

Once you get everything up to temperature (above 140 F) the soup is done. You can do this in any oven depending on how long before you want to eat the soup. The soup will taste better the next day, fact not old wives' tale. The heating and the cooling allows the flavors to interchange with one another.

When the soup is good life is good.....and the soup is good.

Simple Roast Vegetable Dinner

Busy days here at the Nooney household. Presidents week is a hectic at work, a 50 inch snowstorm came rolling thru and then our son finally got home from Afgannyland. Relief. I'm sure your life gets just as busy. When this happens to me my diet suffers. No planning, just grabbin' and goin'. Time to make a nice meal for me. Easy breezy and fun to eat. I dig using my hands over utensils any day.

Let's see what went down in the AgaKitchen.

Roast Veggies and Barley Pilaf slow roast tomatoes, baked onions, broccoli, yellow squash and carrots with a side of red pepper barley pilaf mixed with dark kidney beans.

• Slow roasted tomatoes, click here for recipe, takes about three hours but can be made ahead
• Baked onions, click here for recipe, or simply wash and bake at 375 for about an hour, do not peel
• Barley pilaf, sweat 1/2 an onion small dice and 1/2 a peeled red pepper small dice, add one cup barley. add 1/4 cup white wine and 2 cups stock or water. Bring to a boil and let simmer until all liquid is absorbed. I throw it in the oven for about 30 minutes. Don't forget to season as you go
• Roast broccoli and carrots. Cut broccolli into spears and carrots into sticks, drizzle with olive oil, season and into a 425 oven for about 10 minutes
• Roast summer squash, pick out a small one, split lengthwise, season and into an oiled baking pan and in the oven with the broccoli and carrots, about ten minutes. I put a cool cross hatch pattern on mine but I like to show off. Look closely and you can see them. I t also helps the heat penetrate a bit deeper
• Simple vinaigrette, I used capers and lemon, 3 to 1 oil to vinegar ratio with a splash of wine and mustard

That's it, add some nice greens, I used some cool living greens upland watercress, and build a plate full of great tasting fun to eat healthy vegan food that carnivores will love.

Welcome home Sgt Nooney!

Mushroom Soup, Vegan Style (almost)

 

You get lucky living in a rural environment. Not like "me and my crew was chillin' at the club...." lucky. Like this phone call I took a few days ago from my friend John. " Hey Nooney I was at my Mom's house and she has a five pound puffball bigger than your head. Want me drop it off on my way by?"

I don't know,  a choice edible wild mushroom freshy fresh and dropped at my door? That's what I mean by getting lucky. Puffballs have a strong odor and a mushy texture. Not very desirable by that description. Often puffballs are sliced, breaded and fried. Do that and they will taste like fried stuff. I used the power of my Aga and dried them overnight in my Simmer Oven. The next day I made a classic Veggie stock using the dried mushroom. Very flavorful and worth the effort.

For the mushroom soup I used regular mushrooms, plenty of aromatic vegetables and some nice toothy barley to break up the textures. It's easy to run away from the vegan and add some cream, milk or other dairy. Do that with the leftovers. First time have it "au naturel" and work on your palate and seasoning technique. Try to taste all the flavors, the leeks, the wild mushroom, sweet carrot and celery. Avoid heavy herbs and alcohol. Remember season a small amount first and then move on to the bigger pot.

Soup season is upon us, fondue season must be around the corner.

Vegetable / Mushrooms Stock   yield 4 qts

• 6 qts spring water
• 1 five lb puffball dried overnite in your Aga or a 1oz package of dried wild mushrooms. I found dried porcini at Ocean State Job Lot for next to nothing
• 2 whole onions unpeeled and washed
• 6 big fresh carrots chunked up
• 1 head of fennel chunked up
• 1 head celery, no leafs and outside peeled, both are a little bitter, chunked up
• 1 nice leek, washed and chunked up
• 2 bay leaf
• 6 whole peppercorns
• 6 whole coriander seeds
• 3 or 4 branches of parsley

Don't be locked in here, you can add a turnip if you have one, parsnips, celery root. Just be sure to use good quality vegetables and lots of them.

Bring it all to a simmer for 2 hours and drain. Notice I left the onion whole. Whole onions uncut are sweeter than a peeled and diced onion. Taste and season.

*Aga Owners bring it all to a simmer on your Boil PLate and into the Simmer Oven overnite

 before and after

Mushroom Soup        yield 4 qts

Why make soup for two? Do up a decent size pot and share. My recipe follows but as long as you have a good stock, cook your mushrooms and season properly your good

• 2 packages white button mushrooms sliced thin
• 1 onion small dice
• 1 leek small slices
• 3 celery stalks, peeled small dice
• 2 nice carrots medium dice
• 1 cup barley cooked
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 4 qts veg stock

In a small amount of oil sweat your onion until soft and translucent

Add mushrooms and cook over medium low heat stirring often for 15 or 20 minutes. Be patient here, as the mushrooms cook and stick to the pan use your wooden spatula and other mushrooms to "clean" the sticky spots. This is called the "fond". No coincidence that fond is the root of the word foundation. This is where the flavor is. Concentrated mushroom goodness. The longer you can cook the mushrooms and concentrate the flavor the happier you will be.

look at the fond stating to build up

Add your diced vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the sherry and let boil a minute

Add your stock and let simmer. Taste. Adjust.

To serve put a little barley in the bowl and ladle soup over the top. I swirl a little honey around the bowl as well. Sorry Mr. Vegan Man