BARLEY MEETS GINGER

Barley Meets Ginger…

            Serendipity, defined as “faculty of making accidental discoveries of things one was not looking for”, is welcome any time in my kitchen. Although, if I want to be honest, several things conspired together to set me up for it this time.

            First there was our cold and damp April weather, with no appreciation for the official arrival of spring.  Last week, when my fingers were blue from cold while planting pansies, hot soup for lunch seemed most appealing and barley came to mind, even though it tends to be more of a winter staple. I started with regular barley, which once rinsed needs to cook in excess salt water for about 30 minutes and then rinsed again before being added to broth, unless you like sticky barley.

As I was gathering beef broth and some vegetables, I suddenly recalled the cover of “bon appétit” magazine on soup, from our own Long Grain restaurant in Camden, ME.

This soup did not contain barley and it had ingredients that would have required shopping. But, the recipe’s flavor sounded appealing and I was suddenly on my own international ‘fusion’ cuisine quest. 

            Fortunately, the kitchen had several staples for such a quest: garlic, soy sauce, dried wood ear mushrooms, some dried lily buds (left over from making hot and sour soup) and most importantly a good piece of fresh ginger. Fresh ginger seems to find it’s way in all sorts of dishes in my kitchen, including deserts. It’s distinctive flavor even blends well with rhubarb in a spring compote.

While the barley was cooking, a brief soaking in boiling water reconstituted the mushrooms and lily buds. My perusal of the refrigerator for other vegetables that might complement this experiment and provide some contrasting color came up with some cooked dark brown Latvian peas (garbanzo like), although rinsed black beans would have complemented the barley equally well. Half an hour later we sat down to our warm and serendipitous lunch. The recipe that follows uses readily available ingredients with the same satisfactory and delicious results.

                        Barley, ginger and dried mushroom soup.

Rinse and cook ½ cup dried barley in salt water for 30 minutes, drain, rinse and set aside. Meanwhile, pour boiling water over ½ oz. dried wood ear or shitake mushrooms, soak for about 20 minutes, rinse and cut in thin strips. In a 4 quart pot sauté 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped celery stalk with leaves in 2 Tbls. vegetable oil 5 minutes, stir in 1 Tblsp. thin slivered and julienned ginger, 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes and 1 clove minced garlic. After 1 minute add 1 large cubed carrot, the thin strips of reconstituted mushrooms and 32 oz beef broth. Bring to boil and cook on medium heat 30 minutes. Add barley, a 12oz can of rinsed black beans, 1 Tblsp. soy sauce, 1 Tblsp. balsamic vinegar. Adjust salt and pepper to taste and desired volume with a little water. Bring to boil and serve with chopped green scallions. The flavor blend will taste even better on reheating.

                        Rhubarb, ginger compote.

Bring to boil 4 cups rhubarb cut in 1 inch pieces with ½ cup orange juice, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 tsp. coarsely grated ginger and ¾ cup dried raisins. Cook on low heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 cup sugar and continue cooking until dissolved, about 1 minute. Cool, remove cinnamon stick and serve in glass dishes with whipped cream. If you want to gild the lily, serve with ginger ice cream.

An impromptu quest for international fusion cuisine can sometimes lead to delicious results, though it may be hard to explain to your guests that you are serving them an ‘experiment’.

               (I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)