Hearty Beef Barley Soup

  

I thought about making soup for dinner. My Daughter was feeling under the weather and we always have chicken soup. Running ideas through my head I decided to make a beefy vegetable type soup. I knew What I wanted to make I just couldn't remember the name of the little pearly grain that was sitting right on the tip of my toungue!

Off to the store I went. Retrieving all the fresh vegetables I needed, still no name came to mind. So I headed towards the grain isle. New store, where's the grains?  Two steps further down the cereal isle it comes to me "barley"!

A really healthy grain with a slight nutty flavor that stands up to a hearty soup.

I had the Butcher cut up a boneless chuck roast into 1 pound pieces. He wrapped them separate so I have the extras on the freezer. I wanted a nice and tender melt in your mouth cut when the soup is finished. Stew meat tends to get tough. 

Ingredients:

6 cups beef stock

1/2 large yellow onion chopped

3 carrots diced

3 stalks celery diced

3 cloves garlic diced & smashed

1 cup barley

1 sprigs thyme stem stripped

1 sprig Rosemary stripped & chopped

1 handful fresh Italian parsley chopped

2 bay leaves

1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes 

Salt/pepper

1 Lb boneless chuck roast cut into cubes

Olive oil

Season your chuck roast pieces with salt and pepper. 

In a large Dutch oven add 3 tablespoons olive oil and heat to medium high. Sear your chuck on all sides until it's nice and caramelised. Remove from pan.

Lower heat to medium. Add the onion and cook for 4 minutes, add carrots and celery. Season with a little salt and pepper. Cook an additional 10 minutes stirring often. 

Add the chopped garlic stir for one minute. When you start to smell the garlic aroma add your crushed tomatoes. 

Cook five minutes stiring careful not to burn the tomatoes. Add the beef stock to deglaze the pan. 

Add the chuck roast and fresh herbs back into pan.  Bring back to simmer cover and reduce heat to low. 

I let it cook for one hour, stirring occasionally. Add the barley and cook another hour until barley and meat are tender. The soup will thicken once you add the barley. 

Serve with crusty olive oil grilled bread.

Enjoy!

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NFL Superbowl Worthy Sloppy Joe's Made Easy!

These Sloppy Joe's will e a huge hit with the Men watching the Superbowl game as well as the kids. This easy recipe can be made any time as well as being made ahead and reheated.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups onion chopped
• 3 lbs. ground beef or ground chicken or ground turkey
• 2 cups Open Pit Barbecue sauce
• 1 cup yellow prepared mustard
• 1/2 Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• slices of cheddar or American cheese (optional)
• 24 slider buns or 12 hamburger buns

Heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in large pot. Saute the chopped onions 3 to 4 minutes until just tender.

Add the ground beef, cook until browned stirring often. Drain.

Add the cooked ground beef back to the pot and add the barbecue sauce, mustard, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer about 15 minutes. Spoon onto buns, top with cheese and serve.

You can also set up a Sloppy Joe Bar, in small bowls have several toppings for your guests to create their own version of a Sloppy Joe some toppings are:

• jalapeno peppers
• hot sauce
• cole slaw
• cooked bacon chopped
• shredded lettuce
• sliced tomato's

You can keep the Sloppy Joe's warm in a crock pot on the buffet and have everyone self serve them selves.

Go Team!

How To Cook Easy Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon In Minutes

Cooking a filet is easier than you may think and a lot less expensive if you make it at home than eating out at a restaurant. I picked up these two for around $19 at a high end market. You can do much better at a club like Costco or Sam's, purchase the entire filet and cut it up and freeze your self ;)

Ingredients:

• Filet Mignon (one per person)
• Olive oil
• Course Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper
• Grill or Grill Pan
• Bacon (2 pieces per Filet)
• Tooth Picks

The first step is I took the bacon placed on a paper towel with a piece of towel on top, on a microwave safe plate and pre-cooked it for one and a half minutes in the microwave.

This releases some of the fat that we don't need and being as the filet only takes 16 minutes total to cook I want the bacon done.

Here is the filet's one per person should be plenty. Remove from refrigerator and bring to room temperature before cooking.

DO NOT PUT COLD MEAT ON A HOT GRILL!

Wrap the filet with the bacon strips and secure with tooth picks.

Season heavily and I mean a lot, with fresh ground pepper and salt (I use course sea salt). Season both sides. Then drizzle both sides with olive oil.

Preheat your grill or grill pan to medium high.

Place filet's on the grill and grill eight (8) minutes (with out turning or peeking) on each side. Eight minutes should give you a nice medium rare, grill 6-7 minutes for more rare.

Remove from grill (add a pat of butter if you prefer on top) and cover until ready to serve. You should always let your meat rest about 10 minutes before cutting. This redistributes the juices back into the meat keeping it juicy. Otherwise if you cut it right away all the juices run out all over your plate :(

I served this with asparagus steamed in a little bit of beef broth. I took the reserve broth added three pats of butter and reduced quickly then poured over the fillet just before serving.

Click here for the recipe for the potato's: Easy Stovetop Herb Roasted Yukon Potato's

Enjoy ;)

Karen B's Saint Patrick's Day Corned Beef And Cabbage

Corned Beef and Cabbage is a wonderful dish that you can make at any time not just for Saint Patrick's Day! It's a great Sunday dinner and is great for left overs. You can make sandwich's soups just about anything with it ;)

I took the basics and then added my own twist on the recipes. I felt it need a little extra ompf and it worked out great for the restaurant.

You can cook it one of two ways. In a Dutch oven covered or in the oven in an open roaster. I prefer the open roaster method. I like the bit of browning of the fat that occurs but that's me.

You can find brisket in the supermarket well-trimmed and boneless. They usually come with a little spice packet. I choose the one with the most fat on the top for my open roaster method.

Ingredients:

• 2 - pound corned beef boneless brisket
• 1 onion (cut into fours)
• 1/2 head of garlic (cut in half - a head not clove, no need to peel)
• 1 orange (cut in four)
• 1 apple (cut in four)
• Spice packet
• 1 head cabbage (cut into 6 wedges)
• 6 medium carrots (cleaned and cut into large pieces)
• Parsley for garnish
• 1/2 stick butter (optional)

If you don't have a spice packet here is what you will need:

8 Allspice berries

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

2 Bay leaves crushed

2 Fresh Thyme sprigs or 1/2 tsp dried Thyme

Place brisket into your Dutch oven.

Add enough water to just cover. Add all ingredients except the cabbage and carrots.

Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cover. Simmer for about two hours until beef is nice and tender.

Remove meat to cutting board and cover.

Bring liquid back up to a boil, add the cabbage and carrots reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. For a bit of extra flavor I add 1/2 stick of butter to the liquid before adding the cabbage and carrots ;)

Cut the brisket as shown below and arrange on the serving platter along with the cabbage and carrots. Pour some of the hot liquid over the dish just before serving, garnish with parsley and serve with brown mustard.

Oven method:

Preheat oven to 350.

Place brisket fat side up. Follow the same instructions as above. Uncover after the first hour.

Serves 6

Here is the correct way to carve a brisket.

You always need to cut "across" the grain".

Enjoy!