Smart Carbs: Winter Barley Soup

This is a lovely veggie soup, but you could add a bit of leftover meat to it if you fancy – or even some bacon. I've suggested veg to use or you can just bung in whatever you have to hand.

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 5g butter
• 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 turnips, peeled and diced
• 1 large parsnip, peeled and diced
• 200g butternut squash or pumpkin, peeled and diced
• 2 celery sticks, finely diced
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• zest of 1 lemon
• 100g pearl barley
• 1.2 litres vegetable or chicken stock
• large bag of spring greens, kale or chard, finely shredded
• squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
• salt and black pepper

1 Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan. Add all the vegetables and cook them over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the herbs, lemon zest and barley, then stir well. Pour in the stock and season with salt and pepper.

2 Bring the soup to the boil, then turn down the heat. Simmer the soup uncovered for about 45 minutes until the barley has plumped up and everything is cooked through.

3 Add the greens, pushing them down into the soup, then put a lid on the pan and cook for another 5–10 minutes. The leaves will have wilted and the stems cooked through, but the greens should still have their nice bright green colour. Serve the soup with a squeeze of lemon juice if you like.

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