Vegetable Barley Soup

Until recently, soup has been my answer for using up leftover vegetables. The beauty of following an exact recipe is the ability to replicate a dish if everyone likes it. Everyone liked this recipe. Measure the ingredients in this recipe exactly and you will be rewarded with the perfect balance of flavors.


From The Cleveland Press Olde Time Recipes  by Barbara Bratel

Vegetable Barley Soup

2 1/2 pounds of lamb stew meat or beef stew meat cut into small chunks ( I used beef)
2 Tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup barley
2 medium onions
2 Tablespoons of chopped parsley
2 teaspoons of salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups of chopped celery
1 1/2 cups of chopped carrots
1/2 medium green pepper chopped
1/4 dried whole thyme leaves

In heavy Dutch oven over medium high heat, brown lamb or beef in butter. Add 6 cups of hot water, barley, 1 sliced onion, parsley, salt, and pepper plus bay leaf.

Heat to boiling, reduce heat to low, simmer covered, about 1 1/2 hours.

Stir in remaining sliced onion and rest of ingredients and cook 30 minutes or until meat is fork tender. Discard bay leaf. Thicken futher if desired with flour. (I didn't thicken it)



So, this is what I know about barley. It's a good source of protein. Barley is one of the oldest food plants, it's a cereal grass and related to wheat.
My kids will eat barley, simply cooked in beef broth, and served with a little butter and salt and pepper.