Soup Recipes in Urdu Chinese Pinoy for Kids with Pictures Chiken in Sri Lanka for Slow Cooker: Beef And Barley Soup Recipe Soup Recipes In Urdu Chinese Pinoy For Kids With Pictures Chiken In Sri Lanka For Slow Cooker With Kala Healthy

Sunday, 21 September 2014

Beef And Barley Soup Recipe Soup Recipes In Urdu Chinese Pinoy For Kids With Pictures Chiken In Sri Lanka For Slow Cooker With Kala Healthy

Beef And Barley Soup Recipe Biography

Source (google.com.pk)

I love this time of year when one year is winding down and another is beckoning with possibilities. If you're one of the many people thinking about losing a few pounds in 2012, the days between Christmas and New Years may be kind of a planning phase. By now you've likely had enough rich holiday food, and you could be thinking about getting started on the South Beach Diet or even looking ahead to Phase One, but you're not be quite ready to take that step yet! I'll be talking more about Phase One in the next few days, but in the meantime I recommend this warm and comforting soup as way to get you thinking about healthier food choices again as you contemplate the new year.

I made this soup when I got home from California a few weeks ago and was coming down with one of those winter cold things you often get when you've been on an airplane. I love making soup with whatever I find in the freezer or fridge, and this was one of those happy experiments that turned out to be a real winner. The soup has both vegetable and beef broth for richness of flavor, and barley is one of my favorite comfort-food ingredients that's also very nutritious.

Today's the birthday of my brother Rand (who magically makes the new blog headers appear on Kalyn's Kitchen every month.) Rand loves soup, and when he visits Utah during the winter I often try out my new soup creations on him. Currently this soup is the one he's making over and over, but if I can entice him to come to Utah I do have a container of this ground beef and barley soup in the freezer that has his name on it. (Happy birthday Rand, and thanks for all you do to make my blog look good!)

Start by browning the ground beef (beef mince if you're in Europe) in a small amount of olive oil.

I like ground beef in soup, but I don't like the flavor of beef fat so I like to rinse the cooked ground beef with VERY HOT water before I use it in the soup.

Another option for removing excess fat from soup with ground beef is using a Stock Skimmer like this one to scoop the fat off when the soup is cooking. (If you follow the link and buy a skimmer from Amazon.com, Kalyn's Kitchen does earn a small commission. I appreciate that, and I would never recommend a product unless I used it all the time myself.)

Put the rinsed beef back in the pan, then push it to the side, add a little more olive oil if needed, and saute the onions and garlic.

Add the beef stock and vegetable stock (or canned broth), dried parsley, and dried thyme and simmer the soup for 30 minutes.

I chopped the vegetables into quite small pieces so they didn't overwhelm the barley.

After the soup has simmered for 30 minutes, add the carrots and celery and simmer for 30 minutes more.

Even though I rinsed the ground beef, there is now a little bit of fat on the top of the soup that I'll skim off with the stock skimmer. Then add the barley and cook about 30 minutes more. (You may want to add a little water at this point if you think it needs it.)

Cook the soup until the barley is done but still slightly chewy, then stir in the balsamic vinegar, season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper, and serve hot.

Comforting Ground Beef and Barley Soup

(Makes 4 - 6 servings; recipe created by Kalyn.)

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground beef (use beef with less than 10% fat for South Beach Diet)

2 tsp. + 1 tsp. olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 T minced garlic (or less if you're not that crazy about garlic)

6 cups homemade beef stock (or use 3 cans beef broth and a little water to make 6 cups)

4 cups vegetable stock (or 2 cans vegetable broth and a little water to make 4 cups)

2 tsp. dried parsley

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1 cup finely chopped celery

1 cup finely chopped carrots

1/2 cup pearl barley

1-2 T balsamic vinegar (add 1 T, then taste to see if you want to use more)

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a large dutch-oven type pan; then saute the ground beef until it's cooked through and lightly browned. If desired, put the ground beef into a fine mesh strainer and rinse with VERY HOT water to remove the fat. (This is optional, but I think it improves the flavor and it makes the soup lower in fat. If you don't have a fine mesh strainer, you can skim off some fat when the soup is cooked.)

Put ground beef back in the pan, push to one side, add 1 tsp. more olive oil (if needed) and then saute the onions and garlic until they are starting to soften. Add the beef stock, vegetable stock, dried parsley, and dried thyme and let soup cook at a low simmer for 30 minutes.

While soup simmers finely chop the carrots and onion. After 30 minutes, add chopped vegetables to the soup and simmer for about 30 minutes more. Then add the barley and simmer for an additional 30 minutes. (Before you add the barley you may want to skim off any fat that's floated to the top, especially if you didn't rinse the ground beef. You may also want to add a little more water at this point.)

When the barley is done but still slightly chewy, turn off heat, stir in the balsamic vinegar, season soup with salt and fresh ground black pepper, and serve hot.

This soup freezes or reheats well, although the barley soaks up the liquid so you may want to add water when you re-heat it. It's family-friendly, and uses ingredients you may often keep on hand, so you may want to make a double batch for winter meals.