I’ve always enjoyed soup. It is my idea of comfort food. There is something wonderful about the chemistry of making soup. You put all those healthy ingredients together and (sometimes) voila!
For the last few weeks my love affair with soup has taken on a new dimension. I’ve learned that soup is healing.
When I went to my doctor three weeks ago with a bad cough, she ordered an x-ray, looked at the results and rolled her eyes. “It’s been a bad winter,” she said. “You have pneumonia.”
What?
The part that came next was the worst. “You’ll have to stay home and rest.” I stuttered, “But…can I just walk my dog?”
A withering look later, she wrote me a prescription for antibiotics and an inhaler.
So, I have stayed home for the last three weeks. I have rested. And I have (except the part about not walking Juliet) abstained from exercise.
Fortunately, my doctor didn’t say anything about cooking, so I’ve done plenty of that. I’ve turned to old standbys like Egyptian lentil soup here and harissa soup here. On good days, I’ve experimented with new recipes. This barley and lentil soup with Swiss chard is one of the best new soup recipes I’ve tried. It’s delicious and it is healthy. (Chard is just short of kale in its healing powers…right?)
I’m feeling much better.
Like my doctor said, “It’s been a bad winter,” but I can see spring just around the corner.
Here is the recipe.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 1/2 C. chopped onions
- 1 1/2 C. chopped peeled carrots
- 3 large garlic cloves (minced)
- 2 1/2 t. ground cumin
- 10 C. vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
- 2/3 C. pearl barley
- 1 14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice (or more to your taste--I added an extra 14 ounce can of crushed tomatoes)
- 2/3 cup dried red lentils
- 4 C. coarsely chopped Swiss chard
- Chopped parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Saute onions and carrots in heated olive oil until onions are golden brown. This will take about 10 minutes. Add garlic and stir for one minute. Add ground cumin and stir for about 30 seconds. Add 10 C. broth and the 2/3 cups of barley. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer (partially covered) for about 25 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with juice. Add lentils. Cover and simmer until barley and lentils are tender--about 30 minutes.
- Add chard to soup and simmer for about 5 minutes until chard is tender. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Garnish with chopped parsley.
- You can thin this soup to your taste with more broth.
Calories
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Carbs
Protein
The original recipe from which this recipe was adapted can be found here. The recipe originally ran in Bon Appetit Magazine in 2005.
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