Another Soup Recipe (Beef & Barley)

I’ve got a chicken, onion, carrots, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns, making the stock I like to use for (mennonite) (komst)  borscht, the way my mother taught me. You can find the recipe here.

I’ve learned to make another two soups over the winter. A lightly curried butternut squash and my first beef and barley soup. I often took a can of Primo beef and barley soup to have for lunch at the office. Now, that I’m spending more time working at home I figured I could learn to make my own. It’s not hard if you are used to making soup, and my first attempt sans recipe turned out well enough to say its kitchen tested!

Ingredients

  • left over sirloin tip roast. Go for some quality here, and some marbling,the very lean roasts won’t give you the flavour bump you want.
  • Knorr Beef Stock (6 cups, I like the gelled version, use two, boiling water, mixed well)
  • one white onion
  • one celery stalk
  • some minced garlic
  • two carrots
  • two potatoes
  • half to two-thirds cup (pot) barley
  • 2 bay leaves
  • salt & pepper to paste

beef-barley-soup-3Method

My dad did amazing things with a paring knife, he always had a favourite as well as bigger knives. He did an exacting job slicing and dicing better than any K-tel tool. I make my best efforts to follow his example. The commercial  beef & barley soups after all have very small bitties. So finely diced – but not minced veggies, are what you’re after.

  • Saute the finely chopped onion, celery, carrots, garlic, & potatoes in butter.
  • Add the beef. If you left it a little rare because that’s how you like your roast, fantastic. The saute time makes sure you get maximum flavour from the beef (also finely chopped, at least small enough for two pieces in a soup spoon).
  • Boil 6 cups of water, add  to 2 jelled Knorr packages to make a beef stock (haven’t done this from scratch yet)
  • Add the stock to the sauteed veg.
  • Add half a cup to 2/3rds cup (max) of pot barley which expands like crazy, and if cooked too long (so I’ve heard) tends to make the soup gelatinous.
  • Cooking time is also important because pot barley usually takes a minimum of 40 minutes to cook, and I suggest up to an hour, as you adjust seasonings
    you might like in this soup, including salt & pepper.
  • Serve with fresh bread. We get ours from Stella’s, or DeLuca’s (it’s their white I have downstairs to sup the soup). Borscht stock now finished!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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