With this cold and after the holidays, we crave warm, good, and healthy dishes. At least I can’t eat overly elaborate dishes after the holidays. Additionally, at my house, we return to simple, genuine, and healthy dishes like this delicious barley soup with pumpkin and kale that I will propose in the following recipe.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Ingredients
- 10.5 oz cooked pearl barley
- 1.1 lbs pumpkin
- 1 stalk kale
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2.1 cups vegetable broth
- 1 potato (large)
- to taste pepper
- 1 pinch chili pepper
- to taste salt
- to taste olive oil
Steps
The first step is to prepare the pearl barley even a day in advance. But if you haven’t cooked it, here’s how to do it: soak the barley after rinsing it well and leave it for at least a couple of hours, then cook it in plenty of salted water and let it cook for at least 30-35 minutes after boiling.
Meanwhile, dice the pumpkin and potato, peel and chop the onion, and peel the garlic. Then, in a large pot, pour a drizzle of oil, add the whole garlic with the onion, let it sauté for a few minutes, and add the diced pumpkin and potato. Cook for a couple of minutes over moderate heat, then add the broth, lower the heat, cover with a lid, and let it cook for about 15 minutes. At this point, wash the kale, remove the stalks, leaving only the leaves. In a pan, pour another drizzle of oil and a clove of garlic and let it wilt. Then add the kale, season with salt and pepper, and cook for about 5-7 minutes. Then remove the garlic.
At this point, the pumpkin will be well cooked. Using an immersion blender, blend the pumpkin and potato well, possibly removing the pot from the heat, then adjust with salt, add some pepper, and a pinch of chili pepper if you like.
The barley will be cooked by now, so drain it well and start composing the dish: serve a ladle of pearl barley, 2 ladles of soup, and a bit of kale. Then finish with a drizzle of oil and serve your barley soup with pumpkin and kale, enjoy your meal.
Saby suggests…
If you don’t love kale, you can replace it with spinach leaves.
