I normally associate soup with Autumn or Winter not mid summer, but it is possible to raggle together a really light soup that’s perfect for warm summer afternoons.

This, for all intents and purposes is a vegetable soup – really easy – but the most important thing is the ingredients…..which is kinda obvious anyway. Tatse the leek and carrots raw before you start working with them – if they are bland then sling them – get better stuff!!!

If you’re into it – this soup is just as good chilled as it is warm.

A big pot:

2 carrots peeled and diced
1/2 cup of pearl barley, washed and drained
2 large leeks, trimmed and finely sliced
2 medium sized spuds, peeled and cut into quarters
Chicken stock about 1 litre
lots of chopped parsley
Double cream

In a  good soup style pot melt down a knob of butter and a couple of glugs of olive oil. Sling in the carrots, spuds and leeks, mix around, stick the lid on and leave to sweat for about 10minutes. This really important as sweating the veg releases the natural sugars in them.

Now bop in the barley, mix around and then the chicken stock goes in – drop the heat down to a bare simmer and forget about the thing for about 30minutes.

The soup will be done at this stage so sling in the chopped parsley and wazz it up with a hand held wazzer yokie or a liquidiser.

Serve as the pic above shows and pray for a warm day.