With so many things in front of me waiting
to be finished over the next few weeks, I think I might have to cut down my
cooking and posting time for quite a bit!
I feel really sad right now.
The weather
in L.A. has been so freezing cold lately, and I become so lazy when it’s
cold. However, the cold weather like
this is so perfect for a big bowl of good-for-your-soul soup to warm up the
body a little. Since the weather has
been this cold, I’ve been making and eating all kind of soups, not to mention
that I can eat soup any time of the year, hot or cold. And I’d like to share with you this Barley
and Kabocha squash soup with Ham. This
soup is so easy to make. It’s hearty and healthy loaded with all of the goodness
from barley and squash…and ham is a bonus – the part that will keep you
warm. However, if you like the soup just
all the veggies goodness, skip the meat.
This soup
has a little zing of fresh ginger and garlic for health purpose. But there’s
not a secret about that if you’ve been following me, you’ll see that I've added ginger
and garlic to almost every dish on my blog.
In fact, I never run out of ginger and garlic at my house because I’d
freak out if I see them start to disappear.
Ginger and garlic are spices and they will definitely keep you warm.
I used dried
pearl barley and added them directly into the boiling pot which it took longer
to cook. I’d suggest that you soak them
in water for 30 minutes to soften them up a little so they can be cooked
faster. Notes to myself next time not to
forget to do that!
What you
need: for 4 servings
1 cup dried pearl barley 2 cups Kabocha squash, cubed
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup carrot, chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp ginger, finely grated
3 cups chicken broth
3 cups water
2 cups ham, cubed
2 handful baby spinach
2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
1/2 tsp Sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
How to:
- Over medium heat, add olive oil in
to a heavy bottom pan, add onion and garlic to cook for 1 minute, then add ham,
carrot, and celery and continue to cook another 4-5 minutes.
- Add chicken broth and water into
the pot and add barley, Kabocha squash, thyme and ginger and season with salt
and pepper, then lower the heat to simmer.
Let them cook covered/uncovered for 30-45 minutes or until the barley
get really plump up and soften.
- After the barley cooked through and
soften, add baby spinach and cook another 1 minute, turn off the heat.
*Notes: use salt sparingly according to the saltiness from the ham you have, if used.
Enjoy!
^__^
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