Polish Wild Mushrooms and Barley Soup

It’s definitely soup making and eating weather. It dipped down to the 20’s last night, so I’m sure the local citrus farmers are nervous. We had lots of frost this morning which lead me to finding a heart warming and satisfying soup. I’m trying to eat down the cupboards and freezer this winter break, so when I found a bag of Polish dried wild mushrooms I knew what to make. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can follow the usual soup making steps: sweat the aromatic vegetables in oil (celery. Carrots, onions, garlic), add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the broth is a rich dark brown and the mushrooms and other vegetables are soft, about 1 1/2 hours.

Pressure Cooker Barley and Mushroom Soup

From Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure

18 minutes at high pressure

This is a hearty soup with both fresh and dried mushrooms. My version was very deep and rich, almost beefy, because I used imported Polish borowik dried mushrooms, that were a gift from my adopted Polish family in Chicago. You can also used dried shiitaki or Porcini.

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp minced fresh garlic

2 cups coarsely chopped onions

OR thinly sliced cleaned leeks, white and light green parts

6 cups boiling water, home made vegetable or chicken stock

½ cup pearl barley

½ lb fresh mushrooms, sliced or quartered (Cremini brown are a good choice)

generous ½ cup (1/2 oz) sliced or chopped dried mushrooms

soak the mushrooms for 15-20, save the soaking liquid

2 lrg carrots, peeled and diced

2 lrg celery ribs, diced

2 large bay leaves

1 ½ Tbsp dried dill, or 3 Tbsp fresh dill

salt and pepper to taste

optional: 2 Tbsp of dry sherry

garnish with fresh dill

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oil in the pressure cooker. Saute the onions or leeks, and garlic for about 1 min. Stir constantly.

Add the stock and all the other ingredients.

Lock the lid in place. Over high heat, bring to high pressure and cook for 18 minutes. Allow the pressure to drop on its own.

Remove the lid and discard the bay leaves. Taste and adjust the seasonings. I added about 2 Tbsp of dry sherry to bring out the mushroom’s earthy flavors. This soup will thicken up as it sits due to the barley. Thin as desired. Garnish with fresh dill. Great with open faced cheese toast.