Pearl barley and spring vegetable soup with salsa verde
This soup is ideal at the beginning of spring, when we still need a warming lunch but the spring produce, such as garden peas, is starting to come in. You can make it in the winter with frozen peas and it's just as good.
Overview
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
1 hr 10 mins
Serves
6 to 8
Ingredients
For the soup
3 tbsp olive oil
3 white onions, finely diced
3 carrots, peeled and finely diced
1 bulb of garlic, top sliced off to reveal the cloves
1 lemon, halved, pips removed
1 tbsp tomato purée
200ml white wine
a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme
250g pearl barley
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tsp white wine vinegar
200g peas
crusty bread, warmed to serve
For the salsa verde
20g each of coriander, flat-leaf parsley, chives and dill
2 tbsp capers, plus 1½ tbsp of their vinegar
juice of ½ lemon
100ml extra-virgin olive oil
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