Here’s a soup for nights when you feel like lighting candles and even washing your face—but won’t change out of sweatpants. It’ll remind you of mushroom-barley soup, albeit a tangy, salty, bright, bewilderingly rich version that comes together in under an hour. Multiple umami-heavy ingredients (browned mushrooms, soy sauce, and a Parmesan rind) work together to create a deep, savory backdrop that might otherwise take lots of simmering time (or meat) to develop. Parmesan rinds are always good to have around: Freeze the waxy rind of spent wedges for unleashing salty-cheesy oomph to broths—or just cut the rind off the wedge you’re currently working through. Nutty farro and still-crunchy celery add good bites of texture to the soup, while lemon keeps it from being snoozy. For a creamier soup, stir an additional ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan into the pot, or top bowls with a poached egg.
Recipe information
Yield
4 Servings
Ingredients
3
3
1
1
1
⅔
3
4
1
Preparation
Step 1
Heat garlic and 3 Tbsp. oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium until oil around garlic is sizzling, about 1 minute. Add shallot and mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are browned, 10–15 minutes. (Initially, pot will look dry, then very wet before mushrooms start to brown.)
Step 2
Add Parmesan rind, farro, soy sauce, and 6 cups water to pot. Scrape up any browned bits stuck to bottom of pot, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil over medium-high. Reduce heat and simmer until farro is al dente, 15–20 minutes.
Step 3
Add sliced celery to pot and simmer until slightly softened and bright green, about 3 minutes. Remove pot from heat; add lemon juice. Taste and season with salt and/or more soy sauce if needed.
Step 4
Divide soup among bowls and top with finely grated Parmesan and celery leaves. Season with more pepper and drizzle with oil. Serve with bread alongside.
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Reviews (58)
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Ruth Singer
Vancouver Canada
3/10/2024
Absolutely lovely soup! The lemon note was wonderful. Poached two eggs right in the broth, just waited till they were done before serving. Followed the recipe exactly except the farro didn’t say it was semi pearled which might be why it was so subtle. Next time— and there will be a next time! — I’ll double the farro. Also saw comments suggesting vegetable or chicken broth — might try that as well although the broth was perfect. A great soup after a cloudy cool day of outdoor work. Fairly quick and on the elegant side!
SoozieQ
Brimfield MA
12/3/2023
Great recipe with these changes. 1. I really don't like celery so I subbed fennel. I read this once and I normally sub celery for this. It does not have the licorice taste once cooked down. I sautéed it for about 7 min after the shallots and garlic before the mushrooms. 2. Use some type of broth (I used vegetable) instead of water. 3. I probably used 5 tbsp of soy sauce along with salting and pepper as I went to taste. 4. I added the freshly grated parmesan slowly after I took off the heat to combine so it wouldn't clump. Everyone was free to add additional if they liked.
Annie setting
Youngstown, oh
12/5/2022
This has earned its place on the roster of low-effort, one-pot, & filling dinner soups. I did have to sub almost everything -- only had portobellos instead of mixed mushrooms, regular barley instead of farro, a bunch of green onion instead of celery, & skipped the cheese; but that's still based on the basic structure of this recipe. The simple spice profile works quite well & it's nice to not have to keep a lot of ingredients in mind.
Dani
5/8/2022
This was wonderful! I've made it twice now and it was good both times, just as the recipe says except I didn't care for the parmesan cheese on top (however, the rind is important!). The celery leaves on top make it very fresh and crunchy.
Mary
St. Paul, MN
2/21/2022
This was good, not great. I added some extra spices and swapped in some chicken broth but just meh.
Erin
Los Angeles, CA
2/16/2022
This soup is incredible! I also swapped out water for veggie broth. Super hearty & perfect for a cold winter night
Anonymous
Chicago
1/31/2022