Chickpea/Barley/Spinach Soup
Heaping tablespoon of ghee
2 or more large cloves of garlic, put through the press
1/3 cup white vinegar, or a good sploosh
good pinch of cayenne
4 cups chicken stock, divided in half, or water with bouillon
1 can chickpeas, drained
cinnamon stick, maybe a bay leaf
1 cup barley, rinsed
onion powder, garlic powder
pinch of salt
1-2 cups of frozen spinach, thawed and drained in a colander [or fresh]
diced tomatoes, either canned or fresh
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Sauté crushed garlic in ghee until brown; I did this in the saucepan. Add a good pinch of cayenne and the vinegar and simmer for another minute or so.
Add two cups of the stock, the chickpeas, and the cinnamon stick; simmer for about ten minutes. This is a good time to rinse the barley.
Add the second two cups of stock (I used boiling water from the electric kettle so I didn’t bring the temperature down), the barley, and the onion powder and garlic powder. I put in a pinch of salt, but note the feta will be salty. Simmer for about one hour or until the barley is chewy.
This is the best time to get your spinach out of the freezer and dump it into the colander. Rinse with hot water from the faucet, which thaws it and cooks it a tiny bit. The water drains through the colander, and I also pressed the spinach up against the sides with a spatula to squeeze out more water. If fresh, I don’t think you need to wilt it, as it will go into the hot soup later.
This is also a good time to take your feta out of its brine, slice it, rinse it off, and crumble it. I put thinnish slices in a bowl and broke them up with my potato masher, which worked really well. Cover the bowl of feta and stick it back in the refrigerator for later.
When the barley tastes soft and chewy, take the soup off the burner. Stir in the tomatoes and spinach, cover, and let stand for ten minutes or so. Serve with crumbled feta on top.
