Caramelized Onion, Mushroom & Barley Soup

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Caramelized-Onion,-Barley-&-Mushroom-SoupI’m struggling to come up with something to write about this soup.  What can I say about its warming, comfort food qualities that I haven’t said about most of the dishes I’ve shared here in the past 6 months?

Arg.  What I actually want to say is that it’s still very much in the thick of winter and I’m hitting that wall where I cannot, cannot, cannot tolerate another cold day or another snowstorm.  I’m feeling dull, gloomy, and uninspired.

But I won’t let us wallow in our late winter depression, instead we can wallow in a(nother) great big pot of soup.  And despite my rather sad sounding introduction, this soup is really good!  It’s hearty, the kind of soup that’s a whole meal in a bowl.  It’s full of caramelized onions with lots of barley and chunky slices of mushroom.  The brothy caramelized onions are reminiscent of my beloved French onion soup, but the lack of cheese croutons makes me believe eating it will help me feel better about myself once I do finally emerge from my 3 layers of bulky sweaters and long underwear.  Which is going to happen some day soon, right?  

Just.  Say.  Right.

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Orecchiette Pasta with Shiitake Mushrooms & Peas

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Orecchiette Pasta with Shiitake Mushrooms & Peas
This time of year, I always feel like I am just gasping for air, struggling to stay caught up, and trying to remember where I’m supposed to be and when.  And if you have kids, whew…I don’t, but I remember being one and this time of year was even crazier back then with all of the end of the school year stuff.

Somewhere in there, between the string of weddings and graduations and band concerts, you’ve got to find time to eat.  Just because we’re all busy doesn’t mean we want to compromise on flavor or trade a satisfying meal for garbage picked up in a drive-through.  Pasta dishes like this one are perfect endings to crazy days.  The orecchiette is dressed with a touch of Mascarpone so it feels a bit indulgent and completely comforting.  Nearly every piece of orecchiette cups a pea and there are plenty of sautéed mushrooms to keep that feeling of indulgence from transforming to guilt.  Best part?  It’s ready in the amount of time it takes to boil the pasta.  Nice.

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Salmon with Morel Mushroom & Brandy Cream + Chicken & Morel Mushroom Fricassée

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The past week has been very mushroomy in my world.  It started with creamy orecchiette pasta with shiitake mushrooms and peas (look for that a little later this week!) and ended with an absurd amount of morel mushrooms served with salmon one night and in a chicken fricassée the next.

I only say absurd because if one were to buy as many morels as I’ve eaten in the past few days, they’d probably have to take out a second mortgage or sell a vital organ.  I priced them at the grocery store and they were $15.99 for 4 shrively mushrooms.  Yikes.  Thankfully, I’m lucky enough to have (future) in-laws that live on several wooded acres that are ripe with morel mushrooms most springs and a fiancé that loves hunting ’em down.  This year, Matt wound up with enough for us to have 2 very mushroom heavy dinners plus a bag to share with my parents.  Here’ s a taste of what we came up with and, perhaps, a little cooking inspiration, should you also come into a heap of morels this spring.

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