Mushroom Barley Soup - NaBloPoMo Finale!

My dinner menu this evening was decided by a fictional detective from the 1930s. I was reading Birds Of A Feather by Jacqueline Winspear- the second book from the Maisie Dobbs series- when I came upon this description of the meal served to Maisie Dobbs at an abbey.

"Upon her return, her shoes clattering on the flagstone floors, a fresh tray awaited her, bearing a hearty bowl of barley-and-vegetable soup, a flask of cider with an upturned glass on top, and three slices of still-warm, crusty brown bread."

Barley-and-vegetable soup it is. I ended up making a mushroom barley soup that reminded me very much of a soup that I've eaten dozens of times in cafeterias and delis in NYC. Now why barley does not have a more prominent place in my pantry, I don't know. Time to rectify that. The only reason I even had half a box of barley in my kitchen today was because it was a pantry inheritance from Neighbor Girl. Anyway, the chewy, hearty barley made this soup a meal in itself.

Here's how I made the soup. I'm afraid I don't have a picture- I did not access to my camera this evening.

Mushroom Barley Soup

1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil.
2. Saute 1 small onion, minced and 3 cloves of garlic until lightly browned and fragrant.
3. Saute 3 cups sliced mushrooms and 1 chopped canned tomato.
4. Add vegetable stock and 3/4 cup barley (I used pearled barley). Simmer for 45 minutes.
5. Garnish with lots of minced parsley.

And that's how we come to the end of this month-long blogging marathon, folks.

NaBloPoMo was much harder than I expected. I did end up missing one day and posting late on another. To make the time to write a new blog post every single day, to come up with something to say on top of that- it was not easy. But I got a tiny glimpse of the discipline and dedication that is needed to write consistently. I also learned that I enjoy thinking and writing about all sorts of different things and not just food. Now that NaBloPoMo is over, I'll continue to blog regularly. Not daily, I assure you. But One Hot Stove will stay active and bring you whatever is cooking in my life- food, of course, but also books and crafts and whatever else life teaches me.

Thank you for reading along- I couldn't have done it without you!