I’ve been sick in bed for the last few days. I didn’t see it coming while I was sitting in traffic for most of last week, hissing about everything in life. Then two days ago my throat started to burn and I knew I was going down. It’s funny how you can plod along blindly, doing all that has to be done to keep the machinery of your life moving, however noisily. Then your body says "Hey bucko, slow down. I’m going to bed whether you like it or not".
Luckily I got my ass over to my acupuncturist and he needled me and gave me tons of herbs and today I’m feeling almost healthy and back to my restless self. He told me to make my chicken soup, I hissed back that it was way too much effort and why couldn’t somebody come over to make it for me. It seems being a keen cook means nobody else wants to cook for me, no matter how desperate I am there is no way they are putting their culinary lack of skills on the line. Why does pride come into everything? Anyway enough complaining. My kids have started doing the dishes, though I had to point out that half a bottle of washing up liquid was too much to wash a few plates, you can’t have it every way.
Begrudgingly I’m searching through both my cupboard and my cookbooks. I’ve found this recipe by my Old Faithful Nigel Slater from the Kitchen Diaries. It’s from the February section but it feels like February to me now.
I’ve just put the barley on to boil and I’m writing my recipe, as I have to adapt it for
What I have. It seems like a lot of work for soup so it better be nice.
Herb and Barley Broth ( sounds yuk Nigel!)
Pearl Barley 100g
Carrots 3 large cut into chunks
Onions 2
Garlic 3 cloves
Duck fat or olive oil
Chicken stock to cover
Bay leaves stolen from the neighbours
Thyme – 3 or 4 sprigs
Potatoes – 4 medium sliced 3mm thick, or so
Parsley I have
1.Simmer the barley for 20 mins and drain
2. Set the oven to 180 degrees C
2. Peel the onions into chunks, finely slice the garlic. Warm the fat in a deep casserole and soften the vegetables all over but don’t let them colour.
3. Bring the stock to a boil and pour over the veg, tuck in the herbs, except for the parsley and cover with the sliced potatoes. Put a tight fitting lid on the pot and cook for an hour and a half, God I’ll be dead by then.
4. Remove the lid and turn up the heat to 200 and brown the potatoes. I think production is a more suitable word for this.
Anyway the barley is bubbling. Now I have to put on a disguise to go down to the shops to get spuds and other bits. I hope nobody sees my smelly head. I found a large potato lurking in the back of the cupboard and sliced it up to put on top of this thing called "soup".
I followed all the instructions and the result was nothing like soup. It’s yummy, which I guess is the most important thing but it’s more like a vegetarian hotpot. It’s substantial and warming and though it has no meat in it, it seems like it has. So vegetarians out there here is something like a stew for you.
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