Friday, January 8, 2010

Beef, Wild Mushroom and Barley Soup in (get this) my Crock Pot!!!

The other day I was going through my freezer looking for what I could pull out and use up this week. I found a round steak that was in there from last year when I had ordered a 1/4 of a cow (Happy Meat). For some reason this steak was never eaten, probably because it was just one and not enough to feed all four of us…Anyway I pulled it out and thawed it to make some Beef Barley soup. Well, we know how plans change and recipes morph into other things so here is what I came up with…

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Beef, Wild Mushroom and Barley Soup in the Crock Pot

Ingredients:

2 Tbs olive oil (more if needed)
1 1/2 lbs round steak or stewing beef, cut into bite sized pieces
1 lg onion (chopped)
2 sticks of celery (chopped-I used the tops and all)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1 cup dried wild mushrooms (rehydrated with boiling water and chopped)
2/3 cup red wine
10 cups of water
2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1 cup pearled barley
1 tsp savory
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 tsp beef base (I use better than bouillon)

Directions:

1. In a large pot heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the meat and brown well. Add more oil if needed. Remove the meat and place it in your Crock Pot (I used a 5 or 6 quart Crock Pot).
2. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the celery, onions and garlic and stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent and soft. Increase the heat to medium add the red wine to deglaze the pan (scrape the bottom to loosen the brown bits).
3. Add your onion mixture to the Crock Pot along with the mushrooms, water, and salt. Turn your Crock Pot on low and let cook for at least 5 hrs. About 1 hr before eating add the barley, thyme, white pepper and the savory and cook until the barley is cooked. Taste before serving and add beef base as needed.

***This was an absolutely delicious soup and it was even better the next day! Serve it with a nice slice of crusty bread and you have a fantastic week night meal!

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10 comments:

MrOprh said...

this sounds like something perfect for this weather we're having. more wine please! :-)

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

soups are always better the next day...

Loving the sound of this

Bob said...

Looks great, I love beef and barley soup!

Serena said...

Winter is all about barley! Can't wait to try this out, looks amazing!

seriouslysoupy.blogspot.com

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

I pulled my crockpot out of the recesses of my cupbiards last week and actually used it twice. They are great for some things like this soup. The meat would have melted in your mouth.

cookeaze said...

Look absolutely delicious!Your site is great! Love the pics!Thansk for sharing..

kellypea said...

Comfy food for sure. Crazy how cold it is there right now, isn't it? My mom's near Ft. Lauderdale for a month and they're all bundled up!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

What size crock pot did you use?

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Hey Lydia! It is a 6 quart one but a 5 quart would work just as well.

Thistlemoon said...

I have been using that approach a lot lately (pulling stuff out of the freezer and make something up for dinner)! Looks yummy, Judy!