Soup!
I started boiling some barley in water with dried shiitake mushrooms, while roasting onions, carrots, and potatoes in the oven with olive oil and pepper. I took out the reconstituted mushrooms (and ate them, because they have an unpleasant texture in dishes but an awesome taste), poured the roasted vegetables into the pot, and poured boiling water into the roasting pans to help scrape out the brown bits stuck to the bottom. Poured the brackish water into my pot. It needed some salt and some heft, so I added doenjang (Korean soybean paste). This made it too sweet, and it needed some freshness and bite--so I added some frozen chopped cilantro. This helped the beginning of the flavor, but then it fell off at the end into a bland potato taste. I added a couple bay leaves (too late!) and some black cardamom pods (which smell like lighter fluid).
And I am pretty happy with the end result; I just wish I knew which of the steps I could leave out! It really is a very odd soup, and it still needs something--but I keep going back for more taste tests, which must be a good sign :o) I know "where" it needs help: it's great in the middle and high ranges, but is really lacking a long, low flavor. I haven't figured out yet which ingredients add the flavor profile I want, though; maybe some meat would have helped, but I have a secret dream of someday becoming mostly vegetarian, and this will be easier if I can already cook lots of delicious vegetarian dishes.
Anyway, I am NOT recommending that anyone try this recipe. I just remember last time I made potato-onion-carrot-barley soup it was truly amazing, and I can't for the life of me remember what I did! So I'm going to try to start jotting down vague recollections of my cooking process, just in case I discover that the soup improves with age and I forget the doenjang-cilantro-black cardamom-bay leaf magic combo.
And I am pretty happy with the end result; I just wish I knew which of the steps I could leave out! It really is a very odd soup, and it still needs something--but I keep going back for more taste tests, which must be a good sign :o) I know "where" it needs help: it's great in the middle and high ranges, but is really lacking a long, low flavor. I haven't figured out yet which ingredients add the flavor profile I want, though; maybe some meat would have helped, but I have a secret dream of someday becoming mostly vegetarian, and this will be easier if I can already cook lots of delicious vegetarian dishes.
Anyway, I am NOT recommending that anyone try this recipe. I just remember last time I made potato-onion-carrot-barley soup it was truly amazing, and I can't for the life of me remember what I did! So I'm going to try to start jotting down vague recollections of my cooking process, just in case I discover that the soup improves with age and I forget the doenjang-cilantro-black cardamom-bay leaf magic combo.