If you would like your pearl barley to cook more quickly, you can pre-soak it in a pan filled with a large quantity of water. You can do this pre-soaking for as little as an hour, or as long as overnight, depending on how much time you have available. The benefit of pre-soaking the barley is that it cuts your cooking time down to roughly 15-20 minutes.

The soluble fiber in barley conveys many health benefits, making it a great grain to add to soups. But you can also use it like you would any other grain, rice or quinoa, eating it as a side dish or even adding it to salads.

 

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds stew meat (nicely marbled beef chunks)

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons oil

10 cups water

3 mounded tablespoons good quality beef base or bullion

3 stalks celery (about 2 cups), chopped

2 onions, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 large potato, peeled and shredded, about 2 cups

3-4 large carrots, peeled and shredded, about 2 cups

1 cup pearl barley, rinsed

 

INSTRUCTIONS

Stove Top Instructions

Generously salt and pepper the beef. In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When it is very hot, add about 1/3 of the meat. Brown for about 1-2 minutes, then turn to brown the other side. Remove to a plate when it is browned on all sides. Repeat with remaining meat in 2 more batches. (If you add it all at once it will steam the meat instead of browning it–not what you want.)

When all the meat is browned, add all the meat back to the pot with 10 cups of water. Add 3 healthy tablespoons beef stock concentrate. Add the chopped celery, onions, and garlic. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to medium-low. Simmer for about 2 hours with the lid on.

When the meat is tender and you can break it apart easily with a wooden spoon, add the shredded potato and carrots. Bring to a boil, then continue to simmer on low for another 30-45 minutes, or until the carrots are tender.

Add 1 cup of barley. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low. Cook for another half hour, or until barley is tender and the soup tastes…like home.

Slow Cooker Instructions

In a large pan, brown the meat according to the instructions. Remove the browned meat to a large crockpot.

Add 2 cups of the water to the pan and bring to a boil. Stir up all the browned bits. Add this and the remaining 8 cups of water to the crock pot.

Add the beef base, celery, onions, and garlic to the slow cooker and stir.

Cook on low for about 6 hours. Add the potatoes and carrots and cook for another hour.

Add the barley and simmer for another hour or so, until it is tender.

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Quick Tip:  When soup simmers for a long time like this, it is quite likely that so much liquid will evaporate that what you intended to be a soup will become more like a stew. This is fine, but if you do prefer it to be more like soup, keep an eye on it and add more water periodically, along with more beef base/bullion so that the flavor is not watered down. You can add this water and beef base/bullion at the very end, as well, then just heat through.

Recipe and image courtesy of Karen at The Food Charlatan