Beef and Barley Soup with Mushrooms by Foodie’s Chef Laura Brennan
March 20, 2024
We’ve been having long stretches of rainy days in Boston and that just makes me want to eat soup. And this soup reminds me of my childhood when Campbell’s Beef Barley was a pantry staple, along with Tomato and Scotch Broth. Fast forward many decades and the variety and quality of canned soups has exploded…but I need to make my own because I want to believe that engaging in cooking will disperse the doldrums of more rain.
Ingredients
1 cup finely diced sweet or Spanish onions
1 cup peeled, ¼-inch diced carrots
¾ cup diced celery (2-3 stalks, depending on size)
5-6 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil, divided, plus more as needed
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon granulated/powdered garlic
Kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper, to taste
¾ cup pearled barley, rinsed and drained
4 cups (1-quart) beef broth
4 cups (1 -quart) water
1-2 bay leaves
1 pound white button or ‘Baby Bella’ brown mushrooms
10-12 ounces (0.625-0.75/pound) beef, a flattish piece of boneless chuck roast would be ideal
Directions
Prepare the mushrooms. Rinse the mushrooms and shake dry in a strainer. Lay out on a paper towel to further reduce excess moisture. Remove the stems from the mushrooms. Discard or save for stock. Cut the mushrooms into halves, quarters or sixths, depending on the size of each mushroom cap. (You want to cut all the mushrooms into equal-sized pieces.) Set aside to sauté.
Prepare the beef. The goal is to end up with ½-inch-diced cubes of beef. To do this, cut the piece of beef into ½-inch strips and then cut the strips across into ½-inch cubes of meat. Lightly salt and pepper the meat and set aside to sauté.
Sauté the mushrooms and the beef. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a sauté pan. Don’t let the oil smoke. (Oil for sauteing should ‘shimmer’.) Add the mushrooms to the pan. Don’t crowd the pan, you want the mushrooms to ‘sauté and take-on color and not steam, so you may have to cook the mushrooms in 2 batches. Season the mushrooms with a pinch of kosher salt and pepper. When seared, add the mushrooms to a separate bowl.
Next, sear the beef cubes. Using the same sauté pan, add a bit more oil and when the oil is hot (‘shimmering’, not ‘smoking’) add ½ the amount of beef to the pan. Let the meat brown, turning a few times while cooking. Add the seared cubes of beef to the bowl with the mushrooms. Continue the process with the rest of the meat. You may have to add a bit more oil to the pan to cook the rest of the beef.
Prepare the mirepoix. The ‘mirepoix’ is the base vegetables: carrots, onions and celery.
Choose a soup or casserole pot large enough to hold 1-gallon of finished soup. Warm up about 2 tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil in the pot. Do not let the oil smoke, or the vegetables will burn. Add the mirepoix: the prepped onions, carrots and celery and a until the vegetables have softened and are a bit translucent. Add the tomato paste, the thyme and the garlic. Cook for another couple of minutes to mellow the raw ‘tang’ of the tomato paste. Add the rinsed barley to the pot and stir to combine. Add the sauteed mushrooms and beef to the pot. Add the beef broth and the water. Stir to combine. Add the bay leaves. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 45 minutes or longer or until the barley and meat are tender. Turn off the heat and adjust seasonings to your taste. (PS-Lots of fresh ground black pepper is delicious with this soup.)
Serve in warmed bowls with oyster crackers or crumbled Saltine crackers on top.
Makes about 3-quarts of finished soup
Prep time: 40-50 minutes
Cooking time: 45-55 minutes
Serve with oyster crackers or crumbled Saltines
