This recipe comes from Marco Canora’s cookbook A Good Food Day. Mushrooms have (rightfully) earned a place in the spotlight in recent years and this recipe expertly highlights their flavor and texture. A dish that’s effortlessly delicious without meat, you have the option to create a pure vegetarian soup by leaving out the anchovies and adding our our Seaweed Mushroom broth – or pivot to an almost meatless version using our delicious Grass-fed Beef bone broth.
With mushrooms’ rising popularity, you can now find many different varieties at the grocery store as well as the farmer’s market. While we would encourage you to stick to the porcini and shiitake for their characteristic umami flavor, feel free to swap out the crimini for any mild-flavored mushroom. If you’re using our Seaweed-Mushroom broth, you have the option to swap fresh shiitakes for the dehydrated ones. Just make sure to soak the porcini in a bit of hot water or simmer them long enough to soften.
Serves 8
- 1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
- 1/2 oz. dried shiitake mushrooms
- 10 cups Brodo of your choice, separated (we love this soup with our Mushroom Kombu and Grass-fed Beef bone broth)
- 3/4 cup pearled barley
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme tied with kitchen string, plus 1 Tbs. chopped thyme leaves
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, quartered through the core
- Fine sea salt
- 3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp. anchovy paste (or whole anchovies chopped and mashed into a paste) – optional
- 1 large carrot, cut into medium dice (about 1 cup)
- 1 large yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 Tbs. tomato paste
- 10 oz. fresh cremini mushrooms, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise (about 3 cups)
- 1 bunch kale, stems and center ribs removed, leaves chopped into bite-sized pieces
- Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for serving
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- In a large bowl, combine the dried porcini and shiitake mushrooms with 4 cups very hot Brodo of your choice and let soak for 10 minutes. Squeeze the mushrooms over the bowl to release excess liquid, and reserve the soaking broth. Roughly chop the porcinis and slice the shiitakes.
- In a soup pot, combine the barley, reserved mushroom soaking broth, the rest of the Brodo, the bay leaves, thyme bundle, onion, and 2 large pinches of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook until the barley is tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Discard the onion quarters, thyme bundle, and bay leaves.
