This delicious soup is perfectly seasonal and warm and comforting without weighing you down. When made with farm garlic and the local beans and barley we now carry in the Barn Store, this soup would be at home on any farm to table restaurant menu. I made this with 100% local ingredients excepting the onion and olive oil!

approx 1 cup dry white beans

approx 2/3 cup dry whole barley berries

olive oil for sautee

1 medium onion

1 farm garlic clove (or 4 grocery store garlic cloves)

1 quart good quality chicken stock

3/4-1# Bellair frozen tomatoes, skinned and thawed

1 TBS homemade veggie verdure

sprouts to garnish

Cook separately your white beans and barley berries, as they cook at different times. Stop the cooking when they are almost, but not completely "done" to your liking as you'll meld the whole soup together for a few more minutes of cooking. Save the cooking liquid from both ingredients.

Sautee your onion, diced until translucent and add garlic, just sweating. Then add stock, tomatoes (see thawing instructions), veggie verdure, cooked beans and cooked barley. If you need more liquid (you will), use the bean and/or barley water to round it out. Simmer the soup on low to cook the tomatoes and meld the flavors. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with sprouts and parmesan, if you wish.

Substitutions:

Dry beans and barley make this soup great, since it is so simple. You can sub any other bean or grain type, but dry and whole grain (like wheat berries instead of barley berries) will be best. If you use canned, it will just lack flavor and texture here. However, you can get all these things at the grocery store, where the price will be better.

In place of the Bellair tomatoes, you can use a can of crushed tomatoes

You can use homemade stock or we sell the Pamplin Poultry Bone Broth, which is great for this purpose.

If you don't have the veggie verdure, that's ok! You'll want to add a generous portion of salt and some dried herbs (I like Gathered Threads Salt-Free Seasoning). Always add salt (and any acid like tomatoes) AFTER your dry beans are cooked or things will go awry.

If you want to make this more vegetable heavy, try this Lemony, Tomato-y Brothy Beans recipe. Or, if you want the soup a little more hearty, add in cooked Italian or Garlic Sausage to bulk it out!

Make your own sprouts!

Sprouts are a staple in our household in winter. I have a really hard time getting myself to buy veggies at the grocery store! I want the veggies but they always disappoint me. Having my own sprouts around helps me get that full flavor I'm after and takes the edge off not having as much local green stuff around. It's really easy to grow your own sprouts!

Safety first! Sprouts, like any raw veggie, have the potential to harbor dangerous pathogens. Make sure you practice good hygiene (read: WASH YOUR HANDS) when interacting with your sprouts.

Use good quality seed. This is important for the reason above and also so that you get good germination. Use a blend made for sprouting (you can get this at 5th Season or any online seed company).

You'll need a quart mason or other type of jar and some way to strain the jar. I have this set of two different size plastic lid screens designed for this purpose but you can rig your own situation as long as it's made of food safe materials.

The first step is to soak the seeds (use just 2-4 Tbs or they will grow bigger than your jar can contain) in water in the jar for 8-12 hours. I do it overnight or during my work day. After that, drain the water and rinse the seeds thoroughly. Then drain off all the excess water and set the jar in a dish so that the extra water can drip out and also that air can circulate inside the jar.

Every day, rinse the seeds at least 2-3 times (every 8 hours at least) and drain like you did before. Ideally, keep the jar in a darker spot the first day then bring it to a bright spot but that's not super important. The important thing is air flow and remembering to rinse (this rinses off bacteria and fungi spores that might otherwise build up and begin to spoil the sprouts). The sprouts will germinate and gradually grow. Make sure that on your later rinses, you're gently agitating to get the rinse water all over and break up the mass of sprouts so the ones in the middle get some light and air. Once you see the yellowish leaves begin to split apart and tinge green, transfer your sprouts (thoroughly drained) to an air-tight container in the fridge. I always start another jar right away if we're eating through them!

There are lots of kinds of seeds you can sprout and I like them all! You can do large garbanzo or mung bean sprouts for stir fries or the little clover/alfalfa/brassica sprouts for fresh eating and salads.

Thaw your frozen Bellair Tomatoes

You can use the entire bag at once and make sauce or paste, or you can thaw your tomatoes a few at a time! To do the latter, simply remove a few tomatoes from the bag and place in a bowl. Boil water in a kettle and pour over the tomatoes. Place a lid or plate over the bowl to seal in the heat. The water will cool rapidly. In about 1 minute, you should be able to handle the tomatoes and slip off the skins. The center of the tomato will still be mostly frozen and you can just allow it to thaw out the rest of the way before using. I like breaking these up in soups for a crushed-tomato effect.