3 posts tagged “barley”
I get truly, dorkishly excited about coming home from the butcher. I get almost as excited opening that thick, white paper as I do opening gifts on Christmas morning.
And plus, I love this particular meat market. The staff is so knowledgeable, and in addition to all the great meat, they have lots of different cheeses (I picked up some grana padano today, in fact), fresh pastas and sauces, some produce. It's great (though I do wish they sold veal & lamb stock--that would be tops).
I always see no less than a dozen things I want when I'm there. I was really eyeing the veal shanks today, big time. But I figured those could wait for another day.
Today, I went for the lamb. I asked for some stew meat, and 10 minutes later I was home, tearing open the white paper. Mmmmm.
As much as I love lamb, I've never made a lamb stew (unless you count manestra--which is lamb and orzo cooked on the stovetop). I debated what kind to make. Do I use white wine and chicken broth for liquids or red wine and beef broth? Do I make an Irish stew or a Moroccan one? Should I stick with the Greek flavors I know and love so well?
In the end, I went for a really simplistic lamb stew with barley, made with white wine and chicken broth. It was so hearty and comforting. And now I am stuffed to the gills (OK, you got me, I *did* still have room for those 2 fun sized Almond Joys. Stupid Halloween).
1 lb. lamb (shoulder or leg, cut into 1-2" pieces)
flour, for dredging
olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 cup celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
5 cups chicken broth
8 oz. crimini mushrooms, halved or quartered
1/4 lb. green beans or haricots vertes
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. ground marjoram
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 cup pearl barley
salt and pepper.
Season lamb with salt and pepper and then dredge in flour, shaking off excess.
Heat olive oil in a dutch oven. Add the lamb in batches, if necessary, and brown on all sides (not cooking through). Remove.
To the dutch oven, add the onion (and more oil if necessary) and saute until just tender. Add the carrots, celery and garlic and saute for another minute or so.
Add the chicken broth and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits. Reduce slightly before adding the broth, bay leaf, marjoram, green beans and mushrooms. Bring to a boil and then add the lamb and the barley. Cover, cooking for about 45 minutes until barley is cooked and lamb is tender. (I took the lid off for about 5 additional minutes at the end to thicken the stew slightly). Season to taste.
This is one of Tom's and my favorite soups. It has, in fact, always been one of my favorites but it's a new favorite for Tom. You see, when I first bought barley to make this soup, he looked at me funny. Barley? Isn't that what horses eat? This is what he said. Sigh. One bite of this soup and he was singing a different tune. Now he requests this ALL the time.
When I first started a blog, I didn't really understand the importance of tags or making each dish its own entry (and thus making it easy to find via a tag). I used to not tag my entries at all, or I would not update the blog for a week and suddenly have an entry with about 30 tags. In an effort to make my tags (and blog) a little more user-friendly, when I make something from "the olden days" that is combined with another old entry, I am going to just add it anew and delete it from the old entry.
So if you couldn't guess by that long introduction, this soup has definitely made an appearance in the blog before. If you've already seen it, feel free to move along :)
Unfortunately, after blogging nearly a year, I have still not gotten the hang of photographing soup.
Tom and I both really enjoy this soup. It's flavorful and really filling. One of our favorites!
Beef Mushroom Barley Soup
1 lb. beef, cut into bite sized pieces (I typically use stew meat or top round, as lean as possible)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 cup water
1 cup red wine
2 tbsp butter
1 small-medium onion, diced
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 cup celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups beef broth
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1/2 cup barley
8 oz. fresh sliced mushrooms
Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add meat and brown.
Pour in water and red wine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer while you are cutting up the vegetables or longer (usually, I let it simmer about an hour).
Remove beef and cut into small bite sized chunks or shred if desired. Skim fat and reserve 1/2 cup of cooking liquid.
In a large stockpot, melt butter. Add celery, carrots, onion, and saute until tender. Stir in garlic until fragrant.
Pour in beef broth and add thyme, basil, bay leaf, beef, and reserved cooking liquid. Simmer 20-30 minutes. Season to taste.
Add barley and mushrooms and simmer until done, about 40 minutes.
Well, like I said in my previous post, the next couple of weeks will be chock full of freezer/pantry-cleaning meals. Since the weather here sucks right now (snow in April?!) I figured soup would be a good option. I decided to make my chicken broth in my crockpot. I love doing this because it's just so easy.
From-the-freezer-meal-of-the-day brought to you by:
~ 2 chicken breasts
~ 2 chicken thighs
~ frozen mixed vegetables
Chicken vegetable barley soup
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups chicken broth or stock
2-3 cups cooked, shredded/chopped chicken
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1 tablespoon dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup barley
1.5 cup frozen mixed vegetables
Melt butter in large stockpot. Add onion and cook until translucent. Stir in garlic and cook an additional minute.
Pour in chicken broth and add all remaining ingredients except the barley and frozen vegetables. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered for 20-30 minutes. Season to taste.
Add barley and continue to simmer an additional 40-50 minutes.
Stir in vegetables and simmer until cooked, about 5-10 minutes.
This would have been better if started with the traditional miripoix, so I would go that route the next time, but it was great for using up those frozen veggies.
