Pizza is kindof like soup(?)

So, I know you've all been waiting anxiously to hear what kind of soup I made Sunday night - the emails and phone calls have been non-stop since my last post (haha)... well, Sunday night I actually opted out of cooking altogether and after going for a lovely walk in Discovery Park in the late afternoon, I went to IKEA where I spent more money than I thought I would (as always) and then came home all excited to construct my new end tables and watch Jane Austen on PBS... so I ordered a pizza! Zagi's Pizza is my personal favorite for local delivery and yummy New York style pizza with great toppings like carmelized onions and really good sausage, etc.

Anyway, I did wind up making the Bean/Barley/Swiss Chard soup last night (after finishing all my pizza leftovers - finally) - here's the recipe, adapted from one I found in a magazine by Marcella Hazan:

Bean/Barley/Chard Soup

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, diced
1-2 carrots, peeled (or not) and diced
1 bunch Swiss Chard (or red Chard), washed and thinly sliced

1/3 cup canned chopped tomatoes (or more, if you have a whole can and don't want it lingering in your fridge)

1 19 oz. can canellini beans
2/3 cups barley
5 cups water (or so)
salt & pepper

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot, saute onions for a few minutes, then add the celery and carrots. Saute until slightly soft (about 5-8 minutes), then add the tomatoes - lower heat slightly and let all simmer together for about 10 minutes. Stir in the chard and 1 tsp. salt, then cover and lower heat to barely a simmer. Simmer with lid on for 40 minutes (check and stir occassionally).

In a separate pot (and this is good to start while you're waiting on the tomatoes), boil the 5 cups of water with lots of salt (as if you were making pasta). Once it reaches a boil, add the barley (which you may want to rinse - when I made it last night it was a little dusty/silty). Boil barley for 35 minutes. Skim any floaty stuff off if needed, then drain the barley, reserving the cooking water (or scoop the barley out of the water directly into the soup pot with a holey spoon or small sieve).

Once barley and veggies are both done, combine all in the veggie pot and add the can of beans. Add about 2 or so cups of the reserved barley water (or more or less based on your desired soupy-ness). Bring to a low simmer, add more salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with grated parmesan on top!

This should last me a few days... anyone up for cooking stew or Indian food or cassoulet (yikes!) this weekend?