Vegetable, Barley Stew

When ever I have to make vegetarian it makes me nervous because I use meat in almost everything. For this dish I had the additional challenge of not using tomatoes as I was trying to make an old Norse style soup. The particular issue on this challenge was making certain the flavor had body and was not watery. To my relief, I was amazed when the people in my husbands office, most of which are very MEAT and potato, not only enjoyed this stew but went back for seconds. I only heard one call for "this needs meat"! I should mention that this was served with ham on the side, but with this crew that does not guarantee enough meat. So I will, to my personal amazement, call this a first time winner that requires no changes. CATEGORY: Soup Recipe Name: Hearty Vegetable Barley Stew Ingredients: 3 T butter 2 leeks, ringed 3 ribs celery, leaves included, sliced 4 medium carrots, sliced 1 parsnip, halved then sliced 2 turnip, quartered then sliced 1/2 rutabaga, cubed 4 c mustard greens, roughly chopped 4 clove garlic, minced 1 1/2 c barley 12 c water 1 t kosher salt 1 t white pepper 1 bay leaf Steps: * saute leeks in butter on high for 1 minute * stir in carrots, celery and 4 c water * stir in parsnip, turnips, rutabega and garlic * add 4 c water and barley * bring to boil cover and let cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally * add mustard greens, salt, pepper, bay leaf and 4 c water * bring back to boil then serve NOTES: *instead of chopping all the ingredients at the beginning, do it between additions to allow time for ingredients to cook *rutabagas are easier easier to cut if you freeze and thaw them first, otherwise be careful and use a very sharp knife *root vegetables come with a wax coating, I either freeze them to make it brittle or use hot water to melt it before I scrub it off. *I suggest serving this with a meat dish. I specifically needed to make it vegitarian, but I think meat would just add to the richness, maybe a nice ham baked off the bone.