Beef Barley Soup

To say the least the end of summer has been tumultuous. We are in the midst of refinancing our home, trying to keep spending to a bare minimum and Katsu has had a couple of medical issues crop up unexpectedly that we now hope we have under control. Roll all of that in with my daughters impending departure (in three weeks) from the family home for a place of her own, and I am ready for the much needed quieter pace of fall...the serenity of the season so to speak.

My grandmother's husband used to make something called "garbage soup" every week he would collect all the bits and pieces from the weeks meals and dice up the meat and chop the remaining vegetables make a stock depending on what he had on hand and make a delicious soup from scraps and leftovers. It was never the same and it always tasted wonderful.

Salt and pepper up some soup bones. I know they look like short ribs, but where I get my meat they call these soup bones.

Sear them on a med-high heat until browned on all sides. Then remove the meat and set it them in a baking dish.

Turn you oven on to 300 degrees and place foil snugly over the top of the baking dish. Place the soup bones in the oven and let them slow roast for about 3 to 4 hours.

When the meat is tender they are done. Pull them out of the oven and the baking dish set them on a platter to cool.

In the same pan that you seared the meat. Drain off some of the fat or a lot of the fat, whichever, and cook up your carrots, celery and onion. Cook them until they are only about half done, maybe less.

Separate the meat from the fat and dice into small cubes. Roasting the meat this way gives it a wonderful hearty flavor that you just can't beat.

I have everything ready to go into the pot. I also roasted up a Rutabaga for the soup it has a really nice texture and spicy fall flavor.

My stock came from leftovers I had in the freezer. Gravy from other roasts, beef broth from other soups. I love cleaning out the freezer and finding treasures. I added all in the pot along with 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup pearl barley and let it slow simmer for another hour or so until the barley was done.

This soup went nicely with my spicy buttermilk biscuits and the wet and rainy day. I had never made the meat ahead for soup like this and I was so pleased by the results that I seriously doubt I will every do it any other way again. The soup was really flavorful and satisfying.

Powdered Buttermilk

Have you ever walked by a product in the grocery store and told yourself that someday you would have to try it? I have been passing this product by in my grocery store for years, always wanting to try it but never seeming to grab a can and have it make it into my shopping basket. Well that ended the other week. I grabbed up a can on my way through the baking aisle.

It works great! I have used it a couple times, once because I forgot to buy buttermilk and once because I forgot I had buttermilk...that's the way I roll. I used it last night to make one of my latest favorite quick bread recipes to go along with a pot of white beans and ham soup. The weather is playing hot and cold with us, so one day we will be 70 and the next we soar back up to 90.

The white bean soup is simple enough. You take one pound of dried white beans (I used northern beans) 1 medium sized smoked ham shank (I had the butcher cut it into 3 pieces), salt, pepper. Take the beans and rinse them good and add them to a large pot, nestle the ham shank sections into the bean and add enough water to cover the beans. Turn the pot on and bring to a boil, when the pot boils turn down to a simmer add the salt and pepper (to taste) and put a lid on it. Check the pot every so often to stir the beans and add water when needed. When meat is tender pull it from the soup, take the meat from the bones and put it back in the pot. When the beans are about an hour away from being done add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. adjust your salt and pepper add more if needed. Cook until you reach the desired consistency.

Short and sweet this week. I have been exceptionally busy, but hope to make a little more room for new recipes with fall around the corner. Have a great rest of the week.