Cilantro Lime and Barley Soup

Okay. Let's make some soup. I got a hankering for this soup, that I created while doing a heavy metal detox a couple years ago. Waaay to much Slayer. Just kidding. I was reading up on the chelation properties of cilantro. Pretty amazing stuff. Cilantro does help leach those heavy metals from your body. Anyways, I tried to recreate the soup, and did a pretty bang on job. As always, change things to suit your own taste buds. It's soup. Not rocket scientology. This yields a big huge pot of soup.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 white onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 poblano pepper, diced
• 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
• 1 cup of uncooked barley
• couple tablespoons of olive oil
• 4 limes
• a bunch of bone in uncooked chicken (I used 6 thighs with bone in and skin on, use a whole chicken if you want. Just make sure it has the bones)
• salt
• 48 ounces of liquid (you can use straight water, you can use a mixture of organic chicken broth and water- just use that much liquid. I really slow cooked my broth, so I didn't need the added flavor of additional broth. But you do you)
• 2 ears of fresh sweet corn- kernels cut from the ear.

Cook your cup of barley separately, according to instructions on bag. Time will vary greatly depending on if you get quick cooking barley or not. I did not use quick cooking, so I cooked mine for 45 minutes, while my soup broth was cooking. When barley is finished, set aside. In a large stock pot, put in your olive oil, onion, garlic, celery, and pobalno and salt liberally and really sweat it out. Cook for about 5 minutes or so. Get those liquids released from the veggies. Add in your liquid, chopped bunch of cilantro, and chicken. Simmer for a really long time. I did this for about 1.5-2 hours. We are developing that rich flavor in the broth. Remove all chicken. De-bone the chicken, remove the skin, shred the meat and throw back in the pot. Add the barley to the pot. Cook for 15 minutes on a nice simmer. add another good amount of salt. We aren't using any additional salt in this recipe, so don't be afraid of it. Taste your broth, if it tastes a little flat, add more salt. Juice your 4 limes, and throw it in the pot. Thrown in your corn kernels. Cook for about 10 more minutes. Taste to see if it needs any more salt. Remove from heat. Garnish with a few fresh cilantro springs and maybe a few drops of Sriracha. Or a lot of drops.