My husband's grandmother taught me how to make delicious soups. Here is her recipe for Beef Barley Soup, slightly modified by me to suit our tastes.Beef-Barley Soup
Use 6 cups of Beef or Vegetable Stock which has had the fat removed (see my recipe). Place in a large pot on top of stove or in slow cooker.
Add the following ingredients:
* Thin bits of leftover beef. If you made your stock with beef bones that had some meat still on them, you can strain and shred and save the meat for this soup. I don't use much meat in mine, in fact I almost always leave it out and turn this into a nice vegetable soup.
* 2 Onions, finely chopped or in thin slices.
* 2 carrots, french cut
* 1 stalk of celery, small chunks
* 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped very fine, then smushed. (that's my word for mashing and making something mushy)
* 1 Tbsp Fine Herbes
* Salt and pepper to taste
* 2 Knorr-Swiss Beef Cubes
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* Rinsed barley, about 1/2 cup
* Any other vegetables that suit your fancy, remembering to adjust their size for cooking times (there's nothing worse than mushy vegeys!) or to put them in the pot at different times so as to not overcook. Sometimes I toss in leftover green beans (but added much later to the pot so they don't go mushy) or even a very small amount of brussel sprouts. They're a strong flavour so be careful if adding them
Less is more in this soup. It will look like you haven't got enough vegetables but trust me - you do.
If cooking on top of stove, bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for about 2 hours. If using slow cooker set to medium and cook for about 5 hours.
You can serve this soup with mozzarella cheese grated in thin strands on top, or grated parmesan cheese, and a nice dinner roll or country style biscuit
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