Soup is a main course

Hey, how are you? Ready for the weekend?

I’m still enjoying my views. We’ve been lucky to get a proper snowfall last week, a thing unseen these past few years in Ljubljana, and it suddenly made life much more bearable. We celebrated my Oma’s 80th birthday on Saturday, so I did no cooking on that day. And on Sunday, we spent the whole afternoon outside, in the snow!

Walking around Tivoli park (linked on Google Maps), I couldn’t help but feel annoyingly happy looking at the snow and the people (looking at the snow)! Everywhere I looked someone was snapping a pic or just genuinely having a good time. I even saw the painter (that frequents the park) sit there in the cold and paint.

I felt 10 years old for a moment there and it felt good. Even if the air was piercing cold and I waddled around like a penguin on the icy roads.

I pulled out some cinnamon rolls from the freezer and made pasta for dinner on Sunday. Then made some pancakes and Slovenian plum dumplings this week. The latter were store bought, but I’m sure you can see a trend here. It’s cold out and I’m craving all things doughy. Nothing warms me up faster than carbs and sugar. And soup!

I know a lot of people, like my Oma, think of soup as a starter. But I’ve always seen it as the main thing. It’s hard for me to think of soup as anything but that. If it’s good soup, I want to eat bowls of it, not stop after a ladle or two, so that I could have enough space in my stomach for whatever follows. I don’t care what follows. I care about soup.

My favorite soup to have as a main course this time of year is my vegetable barley soup. It’s a vegetarian riff on a Slovenian classic - the smoked pork and barley soup (often made with beef too, instead of pork). Anyone that loves that soup probably has a hard time imagining the same soup sans meat, but I dare say my version is better.

Paired with a good chunk of fresh bread, it’s heaven. I make a whole 4 qt (4-liter) pot just for the two of us. I try to portion off two days worth of lunch and I freeze the rest. I have to, otherwise we’d just stuff our faces until our bellies hurt (speaking from experience of course), the soup is just that good.

For one, I use more than just carrots and onions when I make it. I like a whole can of diced tomatoes because they give the soup a nice hearty color and flavor. I use a lot of potatoes too, to give it body. And I cook it relatively slowly. Giving it a bit longer to simmer makes the soup thick and velvety, even if you could theoretically have it done in 30 minutes. Time is a friend here.

I absolutely hate it when a soup that is supposed to be hearty has a watery consistency. The broth needs to have some body, some weight.

So if you want a well-rounded main-course type of a soup, this is the one. It’s got beans, barley, tomatoes and a bunch of vegetables. Guaranteed to keep you well fed for days.

Find the recipe here. And send pics if you make it!

get the recipe

That’s it for this week. Hope you are safe, warm and well fed!

xo

Alice