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Menu Plan for Winter II: Week 6, Day 3
Beef Barley Soup
Oatmeal Biscuits
Cooking time: 70 minutes for menu Cooking schedule: see below for instructions
I used fresh, Italian flat beans in this soup. They're available here during the winter but I don't know if or when they are available in other markets. Use frozen, without sauce, if you can't get fresh. Allow an additional 3 - 5 hours if you make your own stock, to cook and cool it; best to make it the day before. You can get something from the bakery rather that the biscuits... Or just have fruit.
Beef Barley Soup
Total time: 60 minutes
This was one of my favorite soups as a child, though I ate the condensed, canned version, not home made. This is ever so much better. The recipe calls for canned beef stock, but if you would like to make your own, (I did) that recipe is below. There will be enough soup for 2 meals - cook once, eat twice.
Ingredients:
- 16oz (480gr) lean beef, suitable for stewing or braising, or the beef left from making stock
- 1 large or 2 smaller onions
- 3 ribs celery
- 4 carrots
- 8oz (240gr) flat or regular green beans
- 15oz (450gr) whole tomatoes
- 6 - 10 cups beef stock or more, depending on how thick you like soup, if using canned, use part water
- 1/2 cup pearl barley or 3/4 cup quick cooking barley this is a tough one - the size varies. Mine was quite small and cooked in 10 minutes- so I started with 1/2 cup and added another 1/4 cup. It didn't expand nearly as much as traditional pearl barley - which I can't get... In the US I used 1/2 cup pearl...
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp marjoram
- 1 bay (laurel) leaf
- 1 tbs oil
Instructions:
- If you didn't make stock:
- Cut beef into bite-size pieces.
- Heat oil in a large skillet.
- Add beef and brown well. Remove and set aside.
- If you made stock:
- Take the meat off any bones, trim off any fat and cut into bite-size pieces.
- The soup:
- Heat stock in soup pot.
- Chop onion.
- Slice carrots into 1/4" (.6cm) rounds - cutting in half if too big.
- Slice celery the same size as the carrots.
- Cut beans into 1/2" (1.25cm) lengths if using fresh. If using frozen beans, rinse under hot water and cut if needed.
- Chop tomatoes, reserving all juices.
- Add all ingredients, including beef and juices from tomatoes, to stock as they are prepared.
- Add barley, herbs and bring to a boil.
- Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 30 - 40 minutes, until vegetables are tender and barley is done. Serve.
Beef Stock
Time: at least 2 hours, 4 - 6 is better, plus chilling time
It's best to make this the day before using, to allow ample time for chilling so you can remove the fat. You can leave this simmering on the stove top for hours. Make more, divide into 1 cup portions and freeze it. Or reduce it, to concentrate the flavors, and freeze in ice cube trays, then put into freezer bags.
Ingredients:
- 2 - 3 pounds beef short ribs, chuck roast (with bone) or soup meat
- 1 onion, quartered
- 1 carrot, cut into large chunks
- 2 ribs celery - or the tops from a bunch of celery, cut into large chunks
- 1 bouquet Garni
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tbs olive oil
Instructions:
- Heat oil in large pot.
- Brown the beef very well on all sides over medium high heat, about 20 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients and enough water to just cover the meat, or 10 cups, whichever is more.
- Cover and simmer over low heat for several hours.
- Remove meat and chill until needed.
- Strain soup and chill at least 2 hours - this allows the fat to congeal on the surface for easy removal.
- Once fat is removed, stock can be boiled to reduce liquid and concentrate flavors.
Oatmeal Biscuits
Total time: 20 minutes
if you don't have oatmeal you can substitute 1/2 cup chopped nuts or 1/3 cup more flour. Like most biscuits, these are best eaten warm from the oven, slathered with butter. Remember: oatmeal is good for you!
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup (3.4oz, 100gr) flour
- 1/2 cup (1.5oz, 45gr) oatmeal
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 tbs butter (chilled is best)
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice and
- milk to equal 1/2 cup; let stand 5 - 10 minutes; you are making sour milk. You should / may not use all of it; depending on whether you are using the oatmeal, flour or nuts and the humidity.
Instructions:
- Combine lemon juice and milk and set aside to sour.
- Put all dry ingredients into bowl.
- Add butter and cut in with pastry cutter, fork or 2 knives. The idea is to get the butter and flour mixed so that it looks like tiny pebbles or small peas.
- Add half the milk and stir lightly and briefly until just sort of combined.
- Add a bit more milk until you get it to sort of stay together. (The way to make light biscuits is a minimum of handling - trust me, it works.)
- Scoop dough out onto a heavily floured surface - any clean counter top or table will work.
- Knead lightly 5 - 7 times - that is: press it together lightly, turn it over and do it again, folding it over on itself as you turn it. It's not going to look well mixed or smooth like bread dough.
- Rub flour on a rolling pin and lightly roll dough out to 3/4 inch (1.25 cm) thickness. Try to get it square shaped. Instead of the usual circles, cut the dough into 2 - 2.5 inch (5 - 6cm) squares. This makes all of the biscuits from one rolling. Less handling = lighter biscuits.
- Put biscuits on a baking sheet and bake for 10 - 12 minutes in 450F (220C) oven or until lightly browned.
- Remove and serve immediately.
Note: For those not familiar with baking powder biscuits - they are light and wonderful eaten with melted butter while still hot from the oven. They resemble hockey pucks the next day so don't bother to save the leftovers... Although you could crumble them and serve them with sausage gravy for breakfast....
Cooking Schedule: 60 minutes longer for stock |
Add beans to stock |
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