A Mrs. Beeton-esque Beef & Barley Soup

Yes, well, I realize this is more suiting for the dead of winter and all that.  But, despite it being August and all,  it is cold and rainy in our blasted state.  And to be perfectly honest, I'm getting so sick and tired of it.  I've been threatening to go and put up a For Sale sign at the top of our driveway, but that would require me putting on a long coat, a hat, boots, and then tracking down the umbrella, in order to do so.  Besides, we don't really have one of those signs lying around the house.  Maybe as soon as Emilia is up from her nap we can do some 'cutting' and some 'art' and make our own.  (It's really the oddest thing, too, because it was so warm last week.)

Anyway, for some reason or another I've been craving beef and barley soup for about two years now.  My sister made some for us a handful of years ago after I'd gone in for a random surgery, and I remember feeling so grateful.  Beef and barley soup is so comforting and oh-so cozy.  But when I asked her for a recipe last week she said she usually just wings it.  Not helpful.

I searched high and low for a recipe, but I guess that beef and barley soup just isn't in high demand these days -- it's not very fashionable, I suspect.  In fact, in my entire library of cookbooks, the only one that had a recipe at all was good-old Mrs. Beeton.  I figure this is quite appropriate as it does make me want to sit in some thatched cottage in the Cotswolds.  Actually, Mrs. Beeton lived in London the majority of her very short life.  Nevertheless, I still think of pastoral England when I think of her.  Or I think of the grubby London that Dickens wrote so much about.  I can't help it.  What a fascinating woman though!  If you don't believe me then pick up a copy of Kathryn Hughes book: The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton.  I've been slowly, slowly, slowly making my way through.  (Sorry, it's just not in my nature to plow through biographies, no matter how interesting.)

So anyway, back to the soup.  I've altered the recipe a smidge.  Instead of adding potato, I added finely diced carrot and celery.  And instead of using butter or beef drippings, I opted for olive oil.  But feel free to switch it back.  Also, I could be easily convinced if someone told me to add some mushrooms.  Maybe next time.

Beef and Barley Soup
Serves 6-8

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ pounds stewing meat, diced
2 onions, chopped
3 ounces pearl barley
1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 large celery stalk, finely diced
salt and pepper
small bunch of parsley

Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot.  When warm, add the onions and beef, and brown for a few minutes.  Add the carrot and celery, and continue to cook for a minute.

Rinse the barley in a fine mesh sieve and then add it to the pot.  Give it a good stir, and then add 4 pints of cold water.  Season with salt and pepper.  Tie your parsley in a bunch and add it to the pot.  Or, as I always do (because I can't be bothered with that) -- just toss it in the pot loosely.  After all, it is very easy to fish out long parsley stems at the end of the process.

Bring it to a boil and then turn the heat down to low.  Skim off any nasty stuff that floats to the top.  Cover the pot and then simmer for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Taste, adjust for seasoning, remove the parsley, dish it up into lovely bowls, and then sprinkle the tops with a bit of fresh parsley, if you feel so inclined.  (Recipe loosely based on: Mrs Beeton's Best of British Home Cooking.  Ward Lock Publishing, 1997.)

**Quick sidenote -- the first picture is not actually of the soup.  It is of Jewish Chicken Soup.  But, really, doesn't it look much prettier than the actual beef and barley soup?  I say yes.  So does Michael.