Pearl barley and chorizo soup

One of the ingredients in this soup is CABBAGE (or any greens), so after the beetroot coleslaw it was a great way to use the Tundra cabbage from the veg box. It’s based on a Jamie Oliver recipe from Tesco, but as it’s a batch recipe and I didn’t need any more soup in the freezer, I adjusted the proportions. I didn’t happen to have any carrots or celery in, but it still tasted great without! We also reduced the number of stock cubes from the original recipe, as it was a little too salty for us.

Serves 4

• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 stick of celery
• Olive oil
• 100g chorizo
• 100g pearl barley
• 1 bay leaf
• 400g tin of tomatoes
• 1 vegetable stock cube, made up with 900ml water
• 250g Savoy cabbage, kale or other seasonal greens

1. Peel the onion and carrot then roughly chop them with the celery.
2. Heat 1tbsp olive oil in large saucepan. Roughly chop the chorizo and fry for 2 minutes.
3. If desired, put a quarter of the chorizo aside. Add the vegetables to the pan and cook for 10 minutes, until softened.
4. Add the pearl barley, the tinned tomatoes, 1 can’s worth of water and the stock.
5. Cover and simmer for about half an hour with the lid ajar, until tender.
6. Roughly shred the greens, discarding any tough stalks. Add to the soup 10 minutes before the end.
7. Blend a third of the soup if desired then serve and top with any reserved chorizo.

This was a hearty, warming soup and easily adaptable. It was so tasty I was halfway through it before I remembered to take a picture!