Mushroom Soup with Barley and Wild Rice

This is another "clean out the produce drawer" soup (carrots, celery,onion, garlic, parsnips), but it has a more sophisticated flavor thanks to the addition of sage and madeira. The texture is nice too -- the broth is rich and silky while the barley and wild rice are more chewy.

I used chicken broth rather than vegetable broth, but otherwise made no changes. If vegetable broth is used, this recipe is completely vegetarian.

Served with a salad of mesclun, sliced pear and shaved fennel (thank you Zuni Cafe for the idea of pairing fennel with pear) with a vinaigrette made of pear-infused vinegar, buckwheat honey, a bit of dijon. and grapeseed oil. This dressing was actually my husband's favorite part of the whole meal.

I have started using grapeseed oil in all my vinaigrettes since attending a cooking demo given by Nate Appleman (A16 cookbook) who recommended grapeseed oil rather than EVOO because it is light enough not to overpower the other flavors in the vinaigrette. I think he's right.