Beef Barley Soup
My mom used to use leftover roast beef and make the most amazing vegetable beef barley soup in the entire universe. However, I never seem to have leftovers between my teenager and my friends stopping over, so I thought if I could use stew beef and still get a ton of flavor in there, that this just might be a winning recipe.
It certainly was! We slurped this up like we hadn't eaten in days! I didn't even have to tweak, it just came out perfect!
Definitely one of those make you toasty all over kinda meals. We served this with crusty bread (try my super easy rustic bread recipe here) and a small side salad. It was a perfect meal!
This soup freezes beautifully and will last for 3-5 days in the fridge so it’s great for meal prep as well!
Beef and Barley Soup
Ingredients:
4 slices of
bacon, chopped
1 1/2 pounds
stewing beef
3 carrots,
sliced
2 stalks
celery, chopped
1 medium red
onion, chopped
3 cloves
garlic, minced
3-4 sprigs of
fresh thyme
4 cups good
beef stock
½ cup dry
white wine
1 ½ cups of
hot water
1 14.5 oz can
of diced tomatoes and juice
1 cup barley
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon
balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon
Worcestershire sauce
2 TBSP of
butter
2 TBSP of
extra virgin olive oil
salt and
pepper to taste
Directions:
Chop/mince
all veggies and set aside. Chop bacon
and set aside.
Rinse
and pat your beef cubes dry. Cut each
cube into ½ inch pieces. Season with
salt and pepper liberally.
In
a heavy bottomed soup pot heat 2 TBSP of extra virgin olive oil over medium
high heat and cook bacon until crispy.
Once bacon has become crispy, remove and add 2 TBSP of butter.
In
small batches, begin to brown the beef, removing the browned beef and adding
new beef until you have seared all of it.
Set aside.
Reduce
heat to medium and throw in carrots, celery, onion, garlic and fresh
thyme. Saute veggies until tender and
translucent.
Add
½ cup of dry white wine and deglaze your pan.
Add
tomatoes, soy sauce, Worcestershire and canned tomatoes. Cook for 1-2 minutes and then add the beef
and bacon.
Add
beef stock, water and bay leaves. Crank
heat up to high and bring to a boil.
Stir
in 1 cup of barley, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring every 15 minutes
for about 2-3 hours.
As
always, get your asses in the kitchen!
**In the mood for soup? Try my other soup recipes**
Krissi Biasiello is a native of South Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Cooking since she was a little girl with her large Italian
family, she decided to leave her paralegal job and shoot for the stars on FOX’s
cooking competition show, MasterChef. She beat out 43,000 homecooks
across America and came in 4th place. Under the scrutiny
of Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich, Krissi has made her mark in
the culinary world. She now shares her recipes with all of you! Her
rustic, homestyle take on everything will win you over and will definitely “get
your asses in the kitchen”.
To contact Krissi for appearances, in-home
demonstrations, catering and more, you can find her below.
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