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Soup: Beef and Barley Soup

Source of Recipe

www.afamilyfeast.com


List of Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound chuck beef, cut into small pieces
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced leeks
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup pearl barley
1 can diced tomato
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 quarts brown stock* (or beef stock)
2 cups water
½ cup diced white turnip
Salt
Pepper


Recipe



In a 10-quart pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat.

Place beef in oil and sear on all sides. Do not crowd the meat in the pan – brown the beef in batches.

Add onion, celery, carrots and leeks and sauté for 3-5 minutes until vegetables are slightly tender.
Add garlic and cook one more minute.

Add tomato paste and cook an additional minute.

Move mixture to sides of pan and place barley in center. Sauté for 2 minutes being careful not to burn the barley or mixture.

Add all other ingredients except salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Bring to a simmer and cook for one hour and 15 minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.

SERVES 8-10
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Brown Stock Recipe

4 ounces vegetable oil, separated
1 6-ounce can V-8 vegetable juice
1 6-ounce can tomato paste, separated
7 pounds beef or veal trim (part marrow bones, part beef scraps, part meaty ribs, etc.)
2 pounds bone-in chuck steak
7 quarts cold water
1 cup roughly chopped carrots
2 cups roughly chopped onions
1 cup roughly chopped celery
1 cup celery tops (if you have them)
¼ bunch Italian parsley with stems
½ teaspoon fresh or dried thyme
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Pour 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of the oil into a large roasting pan and place into the oven. Let the pan get hot in the oven for about ten minutes.

While pan and oil is in the oven getting hot, mix the V-8 with half of the tomato paste and slather all over the meat and bones.

Open oven and place meat and bones into hot roasting pan. Cook for 30-45 minutes until bones are deep brown. Open oven occasionally and turn bones. Watch during the last 15 minutes of the roasting time to make sure they don’t burn.

Remove from oven and place in a 10-quart stock pot. Cover with six quarts of cold water and bring to boil.

While pot is coming to a boil, pour remaining one quart of water into roasting pan and heat on the stove top to deglaze the pan. Scrape up any brown bits and pour into stock pot.

Once stock comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and skim off any scum that floats to the top. Simmer for 5 hours, skimming occasionally.

While the stock is simmering, place a 14” heavy bottomed skillet on the stove top along with the other half of the oil and heat over medium high.
Place carrots, onions, celery and celery tops (if used) in the hot oil. Sauté for 15-20 minutes until the onions are nice and browned.

Add in the remaining tomato paste and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. Add a few ladles of the stock to loosen up the mixture and to scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom. Let cool and then set this mixture aside in the refrigerator.

After the stock has simmered for the full 5 hours, place the carrot and onion mixture into the stock along with the parsley, thyme, peppercorns, bay leaf, garlic and salt.

Bring back to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for an additional hour.

Strain the stock back into the stock pot. If you can salvage any beef from the steak and bones, do so and use in your soup recipes, otherwise discard the solids.

This stock may be used in any recipe calling for beef stock, beef broth or brown stock. Before using, however, it is a good idea to skim any fat from the stock.

The best way to cool your stock before refrigerating, is to fill your kitchen sink half full with ice water and set the pot with the strained stock into the sink. This will cool the stock down quickly. You may need to change the ice water a few times, but you can get the stock down in temperature pretty quickly using this method. Stir occasionally to distribute the heat. Then refrigerate and remove fat after the stock cools, usually overnight.

This stock freezes well in small zipper seal plastic bags.

YIELD: 2-3 Quarts