SPRING: THE PERFECT TIME FOR SOUP

Yes, spring it's beautiful because of the blooming, and the birds, and the first warm days.
But that's not all. I'm sorry to be reminding of this, but spring can be aweful. As in: it rains con-stant-ly. I know you were all trying to ignore this fact, but there it is.
I guess I'm a little frustrated by the fact that it's the 10th day of rain in a row.
Well, that's actually not true, but it feels like it.
Belgium and spring are a very bed combination.

But let's go and take a walk on the bright side 'cause, when it's 7°C outside, you deserve to eat a worm, thick and comforting soup. And I love to be comforted by soup.
For this one, my inspiration was this recipe from The Kitchn, but it's been quite heavily readapted. This is just my favourite way of cooking: getting inspiration here and there, and then throwing in our pots whatever we have around that smells nice.
However, should any one of you try and make that soup, please let me know, cause it sounds real yummy.

So, for mine I used:

- A lot of onions. Say 4.
- Some carrots. Say 3.
- Bay leaf. 1. (I knew this one).
- Garlic cloves. Say 4.
- White beans. Quite some.
- Barley. A cup?
-Tomato sauce. Half a bottle.
- Olive oil. A lot.
- White wine. A splash.

Execution time: 2 days

This can be explaind in two ways, both absolutely true.

1- To speed the boiling up, you might want to soak the barley overnight. It's not essential, but it works a bit like beans so, if you don't soak it in advance, prepare for a loooong boiling time.
Same thing for the beans, if you don't use canned ones.

2- Most soups are just sooooo much better the day after. You might even consider preparing it on Tuesday to eat it specifically on Wednesday. Or just make a lot and eat it both days.

Instructions:

well, once your barley and beans are rinsed, you proceed pretty much as you would do for most soups.
1-You need to cook your chopped onions in quite some olive oil on a medium-low fire.
2-Meanwhile cut the carrots and throw them in, together with the bay leaf. When they start to fizzle, pour a splash of white wine and let it reduce.
3-Only afterwards add the roughly chopped garlic and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
4- Add the beans, the barley and the tomato sauce. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Cook for 5 minutes.
5- Cover everything with vegetable broth, bring to a boil and leave it on the fire until beans and barley are soft.
6-Serve with a last splash of olive oil.


Advice: you might want to add the vegetable broth a bit a time, so that you don't get to watery a soup.