I am still on a soup rampage. This afternoon, while walking through the grocery store, I decided I wanted to make a pot of beef mushroom barley soup. I picked up a nice meaty beef marrow bone, a pound of mushrooms, barley, and a bag of onions.

When we got home I put the bone in a shallow roasting pan and roasted it for 30 minutes at 450º. I flipped it over half way through, and sprinkled it with a little garlic powder before I put it in the oven too. It made the house smell wonderful.

When it was done in the oven, I put the bone in the soup pot with water and some bay leaves and started that boiling. I added a cup of cold water to the roasting pan to deglaze it, scraped all of the good browned bits from the inside of the pan, and added that to the pot.

While the bone was roasting I cooked ¾ of a cup of barley in 4 cups of salted water for about 40 minutes, and then set that aside.

I sautéed onions, garlic, and the mushrooms in a pan with a little soy sauce and some ground black pepper.

When I was satisfied that my beef stock was done, I added the barley (along with its cooking water), and the pan of sautéed vegetables. I also added a little arrow root powder and some gumbo filé to thicken it up and give it some body.

I added about a tablespoon of chicken stock, and it is now simmering. It tastes and smells wonderful.

For my next batch of soup, whatever that will be, instead of adding cubed potatoes, I want to try some root vegetables, like turnips, parsnips, or rutabagas.