Do you love soup like I do? Check out my other soup recipes.
Mushroom-Barley-Beef Soup
Bring the hostages home.
My Dad loved Mushroom-Barley Soup. Thick, hearty and so in tune with fall as the temperatures get cooler. Dad sold it in his Deli, The Royal Dell, both as a vegetarian or as a beef version. I had eaten non-meat meals for 2 weeks this month and was totally ready for a little beef in my diet. Packed with flavor and comforting ingredients, this soup can be a meal in itself or served as a first course. Get ready to cozy up to autumn with a bowlful. Add a slice of crusty bread if this is a meal in itself. Enjoy the exceptional taste of fall with every spoonful.
Mushroom-Barley-Beef Soup
Serves 4
6 ounces beef for stew or fajitas, steak or boneless short ribs
1 tablespoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 ounces white button mushrooms
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ cup red wine
4-6 cups broth of choice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/3 cup quick cooking barley
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Cut beef into 1/2” cubes. Pat dry and season with salt and pepper on both sides.
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Heat oil in medium size saucepan. Add beef and cook until browned on all sides, about 7-8 minutes, stirring to keep from sticking. Remove from pan and reserve.
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Add mushrooms, carrots and onion and cook until mushrooms and carrots are browned and onions are translucent and slightly golden.
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Stir in tomato paste, garlic, thyme and red wine. Cook until the wine is reduced slightly,
stirring to keep from sticking. -
Add broth and stir to combine all ingredients. Add soy sauce and beef. Bring to a simmer and continue simmering for about 15 minutes.
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Add barley and stir to cover barley with liquid. Simmer until barley is cooked and beef is tender. Taste and adjust seasoning. If soup is too thick, add ½ cup of water o4 more to suit..
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Soup tastes even better the next day and can be refrigerated for 4-5 days.
Expandthetable suggestions
Don’t use wine? Omit. Use 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar.
Vegan: Omit beef. Use a vegan broth. Double the mushrooms.
Allium free: Omit onions and garlic. Use a fennel bulb in place of onions and a sliced raddish or two in place of garlic.
Adapted from Cooking for One. America’s Test Kitchen.
Foodie Lit
I asked Marti Healy if it were difficult to write from a male point of view and from a character whose life was so unlike her own. “I… don’t think writing from the viewpoint of a man even though I am a woman is that difficult. I think we are much the same inside. And this is where I write from.”
That we are “much the same inside” is what makes Marti’s writing so accessible, in this novel and in other works of hers. We feel a closeness to main character Kit and those he encounters on the roads of his life. His life was not easy, many choices not good ones, yet inside, we find common ground. She is a writer I want to return to again and again
