As Yolande had it made
Spiced pottage of barley and leeks
Ingredients
For the table
Method
Melt the butter in the great pot and soften the onions and leeks in it, slowly, so that they take no colour.
Add the barley and the broth and bring it to a gentle boil. Let it seethe for an hour and a half, and stir it often, for barley catches.
Steep the saffron in a spoonful of the hot broth, and stir it in with the ginger when the barley is soft.
Salt it at the last, strew it with parsley, and send it up with the bread. A little honey at the table, for those who wish it.
Notes
The saffron must be bought, never borrowed. On fast days the broth is of roots, and nobody is the poorer for it.