Lunch: Sliced Steak and Mushroom Barley Soup

This recipe includes fertility superfoods such as:

Barley

Health and fertility benefits of Sliced Steak and Mushroom Barley Soup

Barley is about the best grain a woman with PCOS can eat. It is low in calories and has the lowest GI of all grains. Low-GI grains such as barley take much longer to digest and create a slow, steady rise in blood glucose and insulin levels. As mentioned before on Fertility Chef, low-GI foods reduce cravings. If possible, try and find hulled barley as it is the most nutrient dense of all types of barley.

Ingredients

Kosher salt
1 1/3 cups pearl barley
1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms
1/4 cup EVOO, plus more for drizzling
6 portobello mushroom caps, gills scraped, halved and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
4 shallots, finely chopped
2 to 3 small stalks celery, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup dry sherry
4 cups beef stock
1/3 recipe Roasted Garlic Paste, recipe follows (or 2 heads roasted garlic)
1 pound flatiron steak
About 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped

Instructions

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add the barley and cook to just shy of tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain in a sieve and run under cold water, then drain again. Put the dried porcini mushrooms in a small saucepan with about 2 cups water. Bring to a low boil, then simmer until tender. Transfer the mushrooms with a slotted spoon to a food processor. Pour in all but the last few spoonfuls of the cooking liquid (grit from the mushrooms may settle there). Puree until smooth. Heat the EVOO in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the portobello mushrooms and cook until browned. Add the thyme, shallots, celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables are tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Deglaze with the sherry, stirring and scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Stir in the stock, porcini puree and Roasted Garlic Paste. Meanwhile, bring the steak to room temperature and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Drizzle the steak with EVOO, then cook for 7 to 8 minutes, turning once. Let rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes, then thinly slice and cut into bite-size pieces. Dress with the Worcestershire sauce. Stir the parsley and barley into the soup, then ladle into shallow bowls. Arrange the steak on top of the soup. Cook's Notes: The cooked barley can be refrigerated in a resealable plastic bag until ready to serve the soup. The soup, without the barley and steak, can be refrigerated for a make-ahead meal. Reheat over medium heat.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Arrange the garlic in a cluster on a large piece of foil and drizzle with 1/4 cup EVOO. Wrap up the garlic in the foil to make a tightly sealed pouch. Roast until very tender, about 45 minutes. Let cool, then squeeze the garlic from the skins into a food processor. Add the remaining 3/4 cup EVOO and the honey and season with salt and pepper. Puree until smooth, then transfer to a small container. (Alternatively, you can mash the garlic paste with a fork instead of using a food processor.)

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