Day 305: Super Soup

Dinner tonight was homemade chicken barley soup and some raw veggies dipped in Trader Joe's white bean hummus.

This is an easy soup but it does take awhile to make, so try it next time you're stuck at home due to weather, sick kids, or a seemingly endless wait for the cable guy.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut up into 8 parts

5 quarts (20 cups!!) of water

4 carrots, peeled and cut in half (or thirds if they are large)

4 stalks of celery, cut in half (or thirds if they are large)

3 onions, peeled and quartered

4 large cloves of garlic, peeled

6 sprigs each of dill and parsley

1 cup barley

S&P

Bring water to a boil and add chicken, continuing to boil the soup for 10 minutes.  Add carrots through garlic plus 1 heaping T of salt and reduce heat to low.  Partially cover the pot and simmer for 1.5 hours.  

Remove chicken from pot and set aside.  Remove vegetables and discard.  Continue to simmer the broth for another hour to reduce it and further concentrate the flavor.  

Taste the broth and decide whether it needs more salt (it probably will) and add to meet your desired saltiness.  Add the barley, dill, and parsley and cook the soup uncovered for another 45 minutes or until the barley is tender.  Discard the herbs.

Like most soups, this doesn't need to be made the day of consumption.  In fact, you can make it over the weekend and enjoy it throughout the week, making it well worth the time and effort!