Beef Barley Soup
I have this friend, whom we’ll call Esperanza because, well... that’s her name. She mentioned something to me about making soup from her leftover pot roast and how good it was and I thought that was such a great idea! A few days later, I made a crockpot pot roast. It was really good, but the piece of meat was huge and even after everyone took as much as they wanted of it for lunches, I still had quite a bit left and I knew just what to do with it.
Ingredients
- Leftover Pot roast with sauce and vegetables
- 1 cup of pearled barley
- 6 carrots peeled and cut into coins
- 2 handfuls of frozen corn
- 2 handfuls of frozen baby peas
Instructions
I remove the piece of meat from the sauce and the vegetables and put those in a big pot. I heated it up and using my immersion blender, I smoothed the sauce and vegetables into a very hearty broth. At this point, I put the meat back in and added a box of vegetable stock and the remainder of a box of chicken stock that I had left over from the Chinese stir fry sauce. I let it cook gently to combine all the liquids. (The point is, use whatever you have on hand).
In the meantime, I started another pot with 2.5 cups of water and a big pinch of salt. When that comes to a boil, add the cup of barley, stir, lower and simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally
At this point, the meat should be warm enough to remove and shred – I just use two forks. This does not have to be perfect. If there are any big pieces of fat on the meat, I’d remove and discard them.
When the barley is done – it will have increased in size and be soft, but a little chewy, remove from heat, drain whatever water is left and add it to the soup, along with the meat, carrots, peas, corn, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, let it boil for a minute or three, then lower the heat to low, cover and eat it now or later, or now and later. As soon as the corn and peas are hot, it’s ready to eat.
We served it with a slice of good crusty bread and a tossed salad. I’d forgotten how much I love a home made, beef, barley soup.