Soup BEST EVER

[DAKA]

I was bored, so I decided to cook something....

Whadda we got...lots of cans of various beans   Canelli, Great Northern, and Large Butter beans..

Chop up an onion, saute till soft add 4 cloves of Garlic...

4 Chopped carrots

4 Chopped celery 

Quart of Vegetable stock

Some dried Thyme, Oregano, Salt Pepper

3 Cans of the assorted beans, Drain and rinse, bring to a boil, reduce heat, let simmer 30 minutes...then 

I used an Immersion Blender and smoothed it a bit,,,leaving some carrots and beans whole..

After it cools, I'll divvy it up into small plastic containers and freeze it 

BEST SOUP I'VE EVER MADE    

[Eric]

I am on my way to the store to get the fixings to make a pot of this. 
 

 

[Hook]

1 hour ago, DAKA said:

I was bored, so I decided to cook something....

Whadda we got...lots of cans of various beans   Canelli, Great Northern, and Large Butter beans..

Chop up an onion, saute till soft add 4 cloves of Garlic...

4 Chopped carrots

4 Chopped celery 

Quart of Vegetable stock

Some dried Thyme, Oregano, Salt Pepper

3 Cans of the assorted beans, Drain and rinse, bring to a boil, reduce heat, let simmer 30 minutes...then 

I used an Immersion Blender and smoothed it a bit,,,leaving some carrots and beans whole..

After it cools, I'll divvy it up into small plastic containers and freeze it 

BEST SOUP I'VE EVER MADE    

I’m gonna try this when I hit the store for stuff. Sounds good. Thanks for the recipe. 

[Hook]

42 minutes ago, Eric said:

I am on my way to the store to get the fixings to make a pot of this. 
 

 

Are you going to post ingredients and recipe?

[Eric]

3 minutes ago, Hook said:

Are you going to post ingredients and recipe?

Sure, if you are interested. I’ll post it tonight. Off to the store right now.

[Hook]

Just now, Eric said:

Sure, if you are interested. I’ll post it tonight. Off to the store right now.

Yeah. Thanks. 

[Borg warner]

3 hours ago, Eric said:

I am on my way to the store to get the fixings to make a pot of this. 
 

 

Barley s good in soup. Sometimes I just make Barley soup and sometimes I cook it with ham hocks. An I cook everything with onions and a little chopped fresh jalepeno and I  especially like Walla Walla or Vidalia sweet onions.

[jmohme]

Damn!

Now I'm hungry!

[Batesmotel]

4 hours ago, Borg warner said:

Barley s good in soup. Sometimes I just make Barley soup and sometimes I cook it with ham hocks. An I cook everything with onions and a little chopped fresh jalepeno and I  especially like Walla Walla or Vidalia sweet onions.

I do an Irish Stew with barley or potatoes. It gets starchy if I cook the potatoes or barley in it so I cook them separately and serve the stew over it. 

[Eric]

OK, it has taken me a few hours to circle back to this, but here goes.

The soup I made today is a meandering evolution of a vegetable barley soup recipe which is printed on the back of Quaker Quick Barley boxes. I'll warn you that I am no master chef and how I make this is highly tailored to my tastes. Your mileage may vary. Maybe a lot. I'll post the original Quaker recipe below, for reference.

• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 11oz box of Quaker Pearled Quick Barley
• 2 cups of diced carrots
• 2 cups of diced celery
• 5 cloves of minced garlic (I like a lot of garlic. Sometimes I use more than this.)
• 1.5 pounds of 93% lean hamburger
• 3 10oz cans of Rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies. I like to use one can of their Chipotle version and two cans of the original. If you don't want to make this soup spicy, you can always use cans of regular stewed tomatoes. I lika the spice, meeself though.
• Olive oil. However much it takes.
• 1 24oz bag of Johnsonville frozen 3-cheese Italian style meatballs. You don't really need this, but Johnsonville makes kickass meatballs and having one floating around in my bowl of soup is a nice treat.
• 2 10oz bags of frozen mixed vegetables.
• 2 10oz bags of frozen corn. Again, this isn't necessary, but I like corn and enjoy having the extra amount in the soup.
• 4 Bay leaves.
• 2 heaping teaspoons of Sweet dried basil.
• 2 heaping teaspoons of dried oregano.
• Salt & pepper to taste.
• 5 teaspoons (Or equivalent) of beef bouillon powder. I use no sodium bouillon. There is a lot of salt already.
• 6 teaspoons (Or equivalent) of chicken bouillon powder. Maybe its weird to use both beef and chicken bouillon, but I've experimented with this recipe for years and I like them both in there together.
• Tabasco Chipotle hot sauce. I add a fair amount of this.
• 10 - 12 cups of water. You could use more if you have a bigger pot than I do and want a thinner consistency. The barley really tends to soak up available moisture after its made and refrigerated/frozen. I add water to it when I heat some up.

Like I've said, I am nobody's professional chef. I think that the traditional way to make such a soup would be many hours simmering to reduce some of the fresh vegetables into a nice, thick soup. I am too impatient for that. I cook the fresh veg in two separate pots simultaneously. In the first pot, I saute the onions and garlic in some olive oil. Don't burn the garlic! At the same time, I heat a little olive oil in the second pot. When the onions and garlic are done, I add a cup of the diced carrots and a cup of the diced celery to each pot and saute them in the olive oil, and in one of the pots, with the garlic and onions. I do this because I like the texture that sauteing the veggies in oil first gives them. It helps them retain a bit of snap. I've never timed myself, but I guess I saute the veggies for around five minutes.

Once this is done, I open the cans of Rotel and dump all three of them into the pot with the veggies, onions and garlic. I pour four cups of water into each pot. I put the bay leaves in the pot with just the celery and carrots. I do it that way because they are easier to find and fish out later, in that pot. I add all the beef bouillon & most of the chicken bouillon to the pot with the onions and garlic. No reason. That's just how I do it. I put three or four teaspoons of the chicken bouillon in the other pot as well. Then I cover both pots and bring them to a slow simmer for 45 minutes.

While the veggies are cooking, I cook and drain the hamburger and set it aside.

After 45 minutes, I take the pot with the veggies, onions and garlic and I puree with an immersion blender. You can use a regular blender, but it is a bit messier. If you are actually an accomplished cook, you may be a bit bewildered right now. I do things this way, because I want a thick, rich stock to the soup. More of a stew base even, than a soup base. I just don't want to wait to get there the old fashioned way. So I double up on the fresh vegetables from the original recipe and cook them in two pots and puree one. Then I dump the other one into it. Don't forget to fish out the Bay leaves. So, I end up with a thick soup and fresh, cooked veggies in less than an hour. Also, I like the flavor of cooked onions and diced tomatoes, but I don't like the texture of either, so they are in the pot that gets pureed. This is one of many, many parts of this recipe you could do differently, if you wanted.

Now, I combine the pureed veggie mix, the spices, all the frozen vegetables, the cooked ground beef, the frozen meatballs and as much water as is needed to turn all that crap into something resembling a soup. The biggest pot I have will hold all these ingredients and 12 cups of water, but not one ounce more. My soup comes out pretty thick because of this, so I usually add a bit of water to a serving, when I heat some up.

Anyway, once everything is added, bring it up to a simmer and let it simmer for 30 minutes or so. Everything frozen needs to thaw out and the barley needs at least ten or fifteen minutes to cook, once everything is back up to temperature. Stir it fairly often. The barley and hamburger tend to settle to the bottom and they can scorch, if you don't. Once it is simmering, you can sample it and adjust the spices to taste.

 

Now that I am done typing all of this, I am reminded of the shopping list of things I used to have to tell buddies when they borrowed one of my early beater cars. You know, the trick to getting the window crank and door latch to work, how to wiggle the ignition key properly, how many times to pump it, etc... I should probably make this soup under a shade tree, but I love the finished product and everyone who has tried it has enjoyed it. I do tend to make it too hot for some people's taste though.

I freeze this soup in single meal-size portions and I get thirty or so servings out of a batch. That is a lot of good eating.

If you managed to wade through all of this and found anything you can use, I hope you enjoy.

 

 

[DAKA]

Did you check the QUAKER OATS for BUGS, like the ones I found in the GRITS box that gave my a day of INTESTINAL PROBLEMS ?

PS  Those SHITBIRDS at QUAKER never replied to my email about the BUGS IN MY BOX OF GRITS

QUAKER IS ON MY NO BUY LIST 

[DAKA]

I used to make a great TOMATO SOUP, lot of cooking time and cans of tomatos involved...BUT on my last "wander" through "The Isles Of COSTCO" I noticed a jarred TOMATO soup

and I like to try new stuff.....TOMATO PARMESAN BISQUE  Culinary Treasures   Heat and serve 

It's great VERY TASTY  and no 3 hours of prep,      probably cheaper in the long run too

[Borg warner]

On 7/1/2022 at 12:08 PM, Eric said:

I am on my way to the store to get the fixings to make a pot of this. 
 

 

Barley is a great addition to just about any soup.