Mushroom-Barley Soup with Cannellini and Greens

1/4 cup hulled barley
4 cups vegetable broth
2 medium onion, diced
6 oz portobello or brown mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tsp minced fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp dry sherry
12 oz shredded cabbage
1/2 tsp smoked paprika 9mild)
1/2 tsp smoked spicy paprika (agridulce or pimenton de la
Vera
4 cups water
16 oz cannellini beans
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Place barley in large soup pot, add vegetable broth, and bring to a boil. Lower heat, and simmer, covered for 30-40 minutes. While barley is cooking, cook onion in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until it softens and begins to brown, then add garlic and mushrooms and pepper, reduce heat, cover and ocok, stirring regularly until mushrooms soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add thyme and sherry and cook until the alcohol cooks off. Once barley is cooked, add mushrooms to pot along with sliced cabbage and paprika. If there are dried bits in the skillet, use a little of the water to deglaze3 it, and add that and the remainder of the 4 cups of water to the pot too. Aded the cannellini beans and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes, until cabbage is tender, adding extra water if it gets too thick. If using spinach, add 5 minutes before end of cooking time. Stir lin lemon juice before serving and add more pepper to taste.

Number of Servings: 6

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user KATHY1157.