Mushroom Asparagus and Barley Vegetable Soup

I shopped several days ago and the mushrooms I bought were starting to develop brown areas. Time for another soup!

When prepping asparagus, always grab a spear and give it enough pressure to break on its own. It'll break at the juncture between tender and tough. Bag up the tough lower parts, and freeze, to simmer with other vegetable scraps for soup stock at another time.

2+# asparagus

24oz. mushrooms

I cut off the brown areas on the mushrooms then sliced them onto a baking pan. Drizzle these, the asparagus, unpeeled garlic and 5 or 6 halved campari tomatoes with extra virgin olive oil and season with garlic and herb seasoning. (I didn't use the seasonings OR the chicken broth base in the first photo.)

Preheat your oven to 400° then roast these vegetables 30-40 minutes. Cool just a little, then take the peels off the garlic and the tomatoes.

While those are roasting, sauté the carrots, celery and red bell pepper, shown, in extra virgin olive oil. Put the roasted vegetables on the cleanest pan, rinse the other with fresh cold water, using the caramelized water to flavor the vegetables in the pot.

Simmer the vegetables in the pot, with 1/3c pearled - long cooking - barley, for 15 minutes then add the roasted mushrooms, asparagus, tomatoes and garlic. Add 2-4 additional cups of cold, fresh water, and bring back to a simmer. Cover and let simmer on low heat for another 40 minutes. Check the flavoring and add whatever is needed.

The mushrooms and asparagus had a dark, rich tone to them, so I switched to beef broth base, 2-3T, instead of the chicken.

This would be great with some crusty garlic bread. . .Lin