Monthly Archives: March 2015

Beef Barley Soup

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Beef Barley Soup Well here we are, officially into the fourth day of spring. The wind is howling and grey skies are threatening even more snow. At least Glenn and I have the comforting aroma of a good beef & Barley soup bubbling gently on the stove. Yesterday Glenn put together a tasty Beef Bone Broth which spent the better part of the day simmering into a deep brown stock. This morning I used this broth to make the soup we’ll soon be having for lunch. It’s a mighty fine antidote for the not-quite-warm-weather-yet blues.

Ingredients

  • 2 T olive oil
  • 1 cooking onion, diced
  • 2 ribs of celery, diced
  • 1 lb beef simmering steak cut into small cubes
  • 1 litre Glenn’s Good Beef Stock
  • ¼ C pearl barley
  • 1 large carrot, diced
  • ½ C turnip diced
  • 2 C shredded cabbage
  • 1 tsp dried thyme

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium high heat and add the onions and celery. Sauté until the onion & celery soften and the onion begins to become translucent.
  2. Add the beef steak cubes and continue to sauté until the cubes are no longer pink.
  3. Now simply add the rest of the ingredients, turn the heat up under the pot until the soup comes to the boiling point and then quickly reduce the heat to a point where the soup is just simmering nicely.
  4. Allow the soup to simmer for 1 hour until the vegetables are soft, the barley is cooked and the flavours have all blended nicely. Adjust the seasoning with salt & pepper to taste.

Glenn’s Good Beef Stock

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Beef Stock

It was cold, windy and snowing this morning when we opened our eyes and started to think about getting out of bed. I got up and put the kettle on for our morning cuppa Joe. When Glenn finally made his way downstairs he looked me in the eye and we both knew there was really only one thing to do on a day like today; while I built a fire in the woodstove Glenn got out the stockpot! So now the beef bone broth is simmering nicely on the stove and the air is filled with an aroma that promises a tasty soup will soon follow.

Ingredients

  • 3 or 4 beef marrow bones
  • 2 litres water
  • 3 T cider vinegar
  • 1 cooking onion
  • 1 large carrot
  • 2 stalks of celery
  • 6 pepper corns
  • 2 bay leafs
  • ½ bunch of flat leaf parsley
  • 2 tsp kosher salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

  1. Arrange the soup bones on a rimmed cookie sheet lined with foil and place on the middle rack of the oven. Roast the bones for 1 hour until they are browned nicely.
  2. Carefully remove the cookie sheet from the oven. There will be some liquefied fat from the bones in the pan, so keep it steady as you lift it up out of the oven.
  3. Put the browned bones, liquefied fat and everything else into a large soup pot and bring the liquid to the boiling point. Immediately adjust the heat under the pot so the liquid cools to a point where it is just simmering gently. The trick to getting a nice clear broth is to simmer the broth slowly and not let it get up to a full rolling boil. It’s also important to skim off any scum that forms on the top of the stock and around the edges. Do these two things and your broth will be clear and not cloudy.
  4. You can let the bone broth simmer all day if you want but do it for at least 4 hours to achieve a deep enough flavour. When you take it off the stove and it is cool enough to handle discard the bones and veggie chunks before pouring the stock through a fine sieve to remove all the little bits. Let the broth cool to room temperature then store it in the fridge. The excess fat will solidify on the top once it’s been refrigerated for a few hours making easy to remove. I always leave a bit though, because it adds so much flavour to a broth.

Tip: You can also save leftover bones from meals like T-bone steak, cross-rib pot roast or beef short ribs in the freezer and toss them into the stock pot along with fresh marrow bones when it’s time to make a good beef stock.

Beef Bone Broth