Carrots are the quiet achiever of the vegetable drawer — cheap, abundant, and endlessly adaptable. Simmer them down into a bowl that meets you wherever the weather’s at. Pearl barley is used in Chinese medicine to remove dampness and fluid in your body. It strengthens the digestive system.
Carrot & barley soup
This one’s built for spring’s split personality — warming enough for a cold snap, light enough when the sun actually shows up.
Recipe — makes 6 portions
- 1kg carrots, washed and sliced into 0.5cm rounds on a slight bias
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
- 1 tbsp picked thyme leaves
- 200g pearl barley- hulled (white) , rinsed
- 1.5L vegetable stock
- 1–2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoon of chicken stock
- 2 teaspoon of nostimini herb mix ( coles)
- A good handful of sage leaves
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil, plus 30g butter
Method
- Cover the barley with plenty of cold, salted water in a large pan and bring to a simmer. Cook until tender, then drain.
- Meanwhile, warm a good glug of oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and stir until softened, then stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for 2–3 minutes. Add the carrots, followed by the vegetable stock. A few handfuls of English spinach are a good addition here if you have it.
- Bring to a simmer and cook until the carrots are completely tender.
- Lift about half the carrots (and any onion clinging to them) out with a slotted spoon and set aside. Blitz what’s left in the pot with a stick blender until smooth-ish, then return the whole carrots and stir through the barley.
- While that’s ticking along, heat a generous layer of oil in a frying pan over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add the sage leaves one at a time and fry until crisp, then lift out onto a paper towel to drain.
- Stir some or all of the sage-scented oil through the soup to taste, then season with salt, pepper and vinegar.
- Ladle into bowls and top with the crispy sage.
- You may add a few drops of apple cider vinegar
