Well, I started on Panhead John’s Souper challenge! I have been making beef barley soup for years, but I’ve never written it down before. Here you go.
A couple points …. Don’t overdo the salt, pepper, garlic. You want the beef to shine through and rich and beefy. The thyme and bay leaves contribute to that, but the salt and garlic will overwhelm the beefy soup and pepper will just make it too spicy. These proportions are ones I have worked out over a lot of years and they work well.
Ingredients
2 tbsp EVOO
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
2 bay leaves
1/3 cup pearled barley
8 oz stew meat, cut into 1/2” pieces
6 cups home made beef stock or beef bouillon such as better than bouillon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fine ground black pepper
Method
Step 1
Salt and pepper the stew meat, tossing it with the salt and pepper, reserve in the refrigerator
Step 2
Heat EVOO in pot until shimmering, but not smoking, then brown beef well on all sides. Roughly about 5 minutes. Reserve beef.
Step 3
Now add onion/carrots/celery and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes until onion is translucent. Add thyme and garlic, cook until aromatic, about 1 minute. Then deglaze pot with 1/2 cup of beef stock or red wine (your choice).
Step 4
Add remaining ingredients (reserved beef, barley, bay leaves, remaining beef stock) to the pot. Bring to a boil.
Step 5
Reduce to simmer, cook about 50 minutes. Barley will be doubled in size and have a nice bite when it is done. Skim fat every 10 minutes, or so.
Serve with crusty sourdough bread and a glass of hearty red wine!
I made beef stock yesterday …. Which I used to make the soup today!!!
Some of the ingredients
Cooking the beef
Loaded up the pot
Soup is cooking
Yum
bread
A couple points …. Don’t overdo the salt, pepper, garlic. You want the beef to shine through and rich and beefy. The thyme and bay leaves contribute to that, but the salt and garlic will overwhelm the beefy soup and pepper will just make it too spicy. These proportions are ones I have worked out over a lot of years and they work well.
Ingredients
2 tbsp EVOO
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
2 bay leaves
1/3 cup pearled barley
8 oz stew meat, cut into 1/2” pieces
6 cups home made beef stock or beef bouillon such as better than bouillon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fine ground black pepper
Method
Step 1
Salt and pepper the stew meat, tossing it with the salt and pepper, reserve in the refrigerator
Step 2
Heat EVOO in pot until shimmering, but not smoking, then brown beef well on all sides. Roughly about 5 minutes. Reserve beef.
Step 3
Now add onion/carrots/celery and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes until onion is translucent. Add thyme and garlic, cook until aromatic, about 1 minute. Then deglaze pot with 1/2 cup of beef stock or red wine (your choice).
Step 4
Add remaining ingredients (reserved beef, barley, bay leaves, remaining beef stock) to the pot. Bring to a boil.
Step 5
Reduce to simmer, cook about 50 minutes. Barley will be doubled in size and have a nice bite when it is done. Skim fat every 10 minutes, or so.
Serve with crusty sourdough bread and a glass of hearty red wine!
I made beef stock yesterday …. Which I used to make the soup today!!!
Some of the ingredients
Cooking the beef
Loaded up the pot
Soup is cooking
Yum
bread
Comment