Beef, Barley, and Vegetable Soup
An old fashioned soup chock full of beef, vegetalrs and barlry
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Vegetable or Olive Oil
- 1 large Onion chopped
- 3 stalks Celery chopped
- 1/2 cup Pearled Barley
- 2 qts Beef Broth
- 28 oz canned Diced Tomatoes with juice
- 10 oz frozen Corn Kernels
- 2 cups frozen Cut Okra
- 2 Bay Leaves remove before serving
- 2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Porcini Powder optional
- 1 1/2 -2 lbs Stew Meat cut into hazelnut sized pieces
- 1 1/2 cups frozen Cut Green Beans
- 1 Garlic Powder Frank's Hot Sauce
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add celery, onion, and barley to pot. Sauté until onion is golden, about 15 minutes.
- Add beef broth, tomatoes with juices, corn, okra, bay leaves, garlic powder, soy sauce and porcini powder. Stir.
- Add beef to pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer covered until beef is almost tender, about 1 hour.
- Add green beans and Frank's hot pepper sauce to soup. Cover and simmer until beef is tender, about 30 minutes longer. Season with salt, pepper, and more hot pepper sauce, if desired.
Modifications
One of the things that is so great about this recipe is that it uses mostly cans, cartons and frozen vegetables. There is very little cutting and chopping.
I chop the onions in the food processor. I usually cut the celery by hand for uniformity but it can be cut in the food processor as well.
I cut the stew meat into hazelnut sized pieces by hand. I managed to do it all in one sitting this time but I have broken it up into two sessions before.
The most important modification I have figured out is that meat doesn’t always need browning beforehand. To replace the tastes of the Maillard reaction (fancy word for browning), I add some umami flavors back into the recipe. Soy sauce and porcini powder bump up the flavor. I may try a teaspoon or two of fish sauce next time I make this recipe.