On one of my birthdays, I went to dinner at the highly celebrated Greens Restaurant in San Francisco. When I ordered the mushroom barley soup with a dab of nasturtium butter as my first course, I thought I was getting an Old World favorite, but instead I was treated to an incredible updated taste treat. The mushroom soup was dark and rich, despite having no meat broth. I had to crack the code, and I was rewarded with the fact that the soup boasted dried porcini mushrooms along with fresh mushrooms. Since that epiphany, I have enjoyed my own version of that splendid mushroom soup many times with a side of onion focaccia, just like in the restaurant. Here it is, re-created for you in the slow cooker. Look for dried mushrooms in the produce department of a well-stocked supermarket or in bulk at the deli counter. If you make the nasturtium butter, plan to make it at the same time you are loading the slow cooker so that the flavors have time to meld. The butter will take on the summer perfume of the flowers and taste very rich.
• Serves 2
COOKER: 3 quart
SETTING AND COOK TIME: LOW for 6 to 7 hours
| 6 | cups vegetable broth, canned or homemade (see [>]; can be roasted vegetable broth) |
| 3 | shallots, finely chopped |
| 1 | pound fresh white mushrooms, stems trimmed and thickly sliced |
| ½ | ounce dried porcini mushrooms, broken up |
| 1 | medium-size carrot, diced |
| 2 | stalks celery, diced |
| ½ | cup pearl barley |
| ½ | teaspoon dried thyme |
| Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste |
NASTURTIUM BUTTER:
| ¼ | cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature |
| 1 to 2 |
small freshly picked unsprayed whole nasturtium flowers, rinsed, patted dry, and chopped |