beef, leek and barley soup
Seeing as my parents were spending the afternoon at my apartment on Sunday so I could pilfer content for my site from their recipe box, I figured the least I could do was make them some lunch. And although it is not quite soup weather yet, I have not been able to get my mind off of a recipe I read recently, so soup it was.
Oh, but this is not just any soup. This will be, hands down and no contest, the easiest soup you have ever made. You’re not going to believe how simple it is, and what you get as a result–something so unbelievably hearty, you’ll never have room for your next course. It’s filling and healthy and warming and delicious and oh my god, I bet you just want me to cut to the chase already, don’t you?
Here you go: Put some stuff in a soup pot, bring it to a simmer and cook it for three hours while you go about your business. Um, you got all that? Because that is all there is. I bet you won’t even need to print this recipe off, except to check back a zillion times, unable to believe that food this good can be this easy to make.
And did you catch that “go about your business” part? I bet you recognize that voice by now, that charming lady that tells you that recipes should adapt to your schedule and not vice-versa? Why yes, it’s Laurie Colwin once again, and now that I am two for two with her runaway hits of recipes, I don’t think I can turn back now. I am too inspired. I can’t wait to hear all of the ways all of you adapt this recipe, so be sure to report back, okay?
One year ago: Peanut Butter Brownies
Two years ago: Roasted Acorn Squash with Chile Vinaigrette
Beef, Leek and Barley Soup
Adapted from Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking
1. Trim two big, meaty short ribs and put them on the bottom of your soup pot.
2. Add 1/2 cup of barley, three big cloves of garlic shopped up, two chopped onions, and three leeks cut lengthwise and then into segments–use both the white and the green parts. You can also add mushrooms and any other vegetables you might like. Grind in a little black pepper.
3. Add about eight cups of filtered water or beef stock and let it simmer on the back burner for at least three hours while you go about your business. You can also add lima beans, cube potatoes, peas, corn, string beans and chopped tomatoes at any point, or the second day, should you have any leftover.
4. Before serving, skim off the fat–there will be a bit, as short ribs are quite fatty–take the meat off the bones, chop it and put it back in the soup.
looks yummy.
Yum! There is nothing like a good hearty soup. It is time for green chile chicken stew here in New Mexico!
To bad my husbadn doesn’t like soup. I guess I will save this for the next time he goes out of town, and share it with my MIL. Or maybe I will make it and try freezing some?
It’s grandma soup! Beef, onions, and whatever is in the crisper drawer. When she was growing up in deep Alabama and company came along, they’d add more of whatever they had most of. It was normally water :) Great recipe, thanks!
Oh my!
That looks so delicious. :)
Dana
I’m sick today and have been craving a good soup. This looks perfect.
Thanks!
For someone who has celiac, how would beans be instead of the barley? Just as nice?
Oh my God, that looks delicious. Just like my Bubby used to make. I miss her… and her soup.
My husband and I both love soup, and I’d like to make this, but the hubby doesn’t eat red meat. I know so much of the flavor (and the color too, I’d guess) comes from the beef, but what would happen if I omitted the beef part? Is there something that I could replace it with (i.e. chicken), or am I better off just omitting the meat completely? (I’m not a fan of chicken bits in my soup, so I’m hoping that you’ll say it will be great without any meat.)
Btw, I just found your site and every day that you post, it’s a droolfest all over my keyboard. Your photos are incredible. And the food… oh, I’d bet it’s amaaaaazing.
This sounds great!! I like the idea of going about my business while it simmers.
Sarah! Green chili chicken stew sounds wonderful!! Will you post the recipe?
It is soup weather in Oklahoma - or at least chilly enough when the sun goes down that I can pretend…
I love Laurie Colwin’s cooking books — she’s so no-nonsense and always out for enjoyment. What a delicious recipe that is, too.
I love beef barley soup..this is almost the way I make it..except that I start the beef and onions caramelizing well before I add everything else. I like beef based soups dark and rich looking. AND..I add a few raisins to it too..just because I like to be treated to an unexpected bite of something sweet. It’s an amazing touch!
I usually lurk, but this is just so cool I had to come out of the woodwork- my favorite food blogger, blogging about my favorite hard-copy food writer! The bread recipe you covered may be what it takes to finally get me to overcome my Yeast Phobia, and this recipe looks amazing as well. It’s such a treat to see some of Colwin’s recipes in illustrated form; I haven’t tried either of these, and both the bread and soup would be perfect for the fall weather we’re having here in Colorado. Colwin’s lentil soup formula from her second book (More Home Cooking) literally changed the way I cook, and it’s always wonderful to see someone else discover her work.
What do you think would happen if you substituted leaner meat?
oh, thank you! lately there have been so many recipes with tomatoes (which I don’t like) or lots of baking (which I don’t have extra time for these days). but a good hearty soup is totally up my alley. and i need a reason to use my nice dutch oven!
one other thing: how do you think this would do in a crock-pot?
Want!
Want now!
Chilly in Chicago. Must. Have. Soup!
oh that looks so good. did you get a new le creuset? quite stunning in blue!!
I think this would adapt brilliantly to crockpot use too. I love a recipe that allows me to put everything except liquids in the pot the night before and stash it in the fridge, then just add liquid, put the pot in the heater, and turn it on before leaving for work. In fact, I think this is on next week’s menu.
wow this soup looks so good and hearty! maybe even with some spinach or kale (my new fave veg) thrown in near the end. funny, when i left for work this morning it really wasn’t soup weather yet, but by the time i got home- i could really use a bowl :(
You’re so lucky it’s not soup weather there yet. It’s freezing here in Vancouver, Canada! This soup looks so hearty and warming. I’ve been looking for a great beef and barley recipe for a while now. I think I’ve found it.
My husband is one of those big burly guys who would refuse to accept that soup could be a full meal. Every time I try to make a carb-less dinner by substituting an extra veggie for the rice/noodles/potato he immediately asks “what are we eating this with?” Although, I have sold him on a provencal beef stew during the winter months. Hmm, I bet if I let this simmer down until it was a bit thicker and served it with some baked potato wedges I could pass it off as dinner.
BTW, I only discovered this website about 2.5 weeks ago and have already made: challah, slow roasted tomatoes (about 3 times), stewed lentils with tomatoes, and am planning to make the coq a vin, onion dill bread and the apple cake next week. Turns out I’m a sucker for a pretty picture, and boy this site is FULL of them. I’m sure you hear it all the time, but this site is so inspiring - just what I needed to get me out of my recipe rut.
How I wish it was soup weather here. We topped out at 100 degrees today. But the calender tells me it’s soup season. I can’t stop thinking about roasted butternut squash soup. YUM! Now I have this to wish for also!
I usually use gravy beef cut into chunks, about four potatos, four carrots, an onion and some cabbage. Throw in a bouquet de garni and top it up with Beef stock. All in a crock pot over night, mmmm… too bad we’re going into summer here and salads are going to be the thing now…
Are barley and leeks easy to find at most grocery stores, or do you think you have to go to a specialty store? I’ve never looked for it before but I can’t recall ever seeing barley around the oatmeal and rice and stuff…but I’d like to make this recipe for sure! I love hearty soups, and I have a package of baby bella mushrooms that I bet would be delicious in with this, because they are good with anything beefy. :)
thanks for a great sounding recipe! I love short ribs, never thought to use them in soup :)
Oh, I just love Laurie Colwin. I so miss her voice, her column really made Gourmet for me when I subscribed to it. I own both Home Cooking books and whenever I’m in the need of beautiful prose about food, I pull them out and reread them.
Her Black Bean soup recipe is to die for…be sure you try that one too! The weather here is perfect for it!
I, too, would like to know what options there might be to use a leaner cut of meat… would the soup still work?
we saute–leak and portabella mushrooms–delicious!
My husband will flip over this! He claims I never make beef barley soup often enough. I usually use beef shank but will definately try it with short ribs soon.
I make almost this same soup, with a spicy Italian sausage instead of the beef and a can of lentils. I’ve used a few stalks of leafy celery instead of the leeks. It’s one of the easiest and best soups ever.
Yum. Soup might be just what the doctor ordered. And we got leeks in our CSA yesterday.
Is it very important to use filtered water? The water in manhattan is pretty tasty…
My goodness, that sounds yummy. And it’s definitely soup weather in New England, and will be until, oh, late May.
Am I right in suspecting it would be almost as good with chunks of whatever stew-type beef you had in the freezer looking for a good home, though you’d probably want beef stock instead of water in that case to make up for not having the bones from teh short ribs?
Deb, this was such a good recipe. I made it last night for the husband, and he loved it! Definitely another “buy the ingredients on the way home from work because it sounds too good to wait” Smitten Kitchen winner. It’s hearty, tasty and simple, and I can see it remaining a big player in my soup repertoire.
For a meatless barley soup - I use lots of mushrooms. At least a pound of sliced buttons works fine, with onions and or leeks, a bit of celery and carrots or whatever, vegie broth (I like Better than Bouillion when I don’t make my own) and seasoned with lots of thyme. It is great in cooler weather and freezes well too.
I love a good beef and barley soup- this one looks great for those who are soup challenged too. I always try to get a few good beef bones from the butcher and roast them until they are browned and fragrant, then put those in the pot. It beats a jarred beef base hands down and gives beef soup incredible flavor. I have pork bones in the freezer from my smoked and grilled roasts this past summer and I can’t wait to use them for pork stew in the coming months! Yum!
Short bone swap questions: I am not a very experienced cook when it comes to beef, so your guess is probably as good as mine. I have, however, cooked short ribs many, many times (they’re my favorite) and know that its nearly impossible to overcook them. The longer the cooking time (such as these three hours), the better they get. I have not had the same experience with chunks of beef you’d use in stew, which I find after a certain amount of time just get tough.
If you are particularly concerned about the fat content, there are two routes: One, make it the night or day before and fully chill it in the fridge. The fat will come to the top and be very easy to remove, and you can get 98 percent of it out, more than you can with skimming it while it is hot. Second option is to use beef shins instead (yeah, I’ve never seen them either). Colwin suggests this in the book as an alternative, and I believe they are much less fatty.
Thanks for the recipe. I love barley! And I love this time of year, being able to cook a meal in a big pot in my kitchen again. I bet this soup was really good with your challah (if you had any left over!).
How could I forget to add that? This soup is spectacular with a toasted piece of challah. The flavors, they’re meant for each other.
Coincidentally, I have been reading Colwin’s book. I got it out of the library a while ago, and now it is horribly overdue. I just can’t seem to part with it. Thanks for highlighting some recipes. It helps me focus on what to make first. I should just go buy the book before the fees exceed the cost of a new one.
So sad that she died so young.
What a delicious and hearty soup recipe! I bet your parents loved it!
We would like to feature your soup on our blog! If interested email haleyglasco@gmail.com Thanks!
i love soup, anytime of year. this looks yummy. i love barley
I made this last night in my Staub dutch oven, stirring occasionally, and it stuck horribly to the bottom of my pot! Unfortunately that slight burnt taste is prevalent throughout the whole pot.
Do you have any tips for using cookware like that? I’m sure it was “user error”, but I don’t want that to happen again! I don’t know why I can make a beautiful cheesecake and layer cakes, but cannot master a simple stew!
Wow - looks yummy!
Erika — I used a Staub as well, but mine didn’t stick, so I am entirely unsure of why it happened to you. Perhaps the heat was a little high? It does confuse me, especially if you were stirred all the way down through the bottom of the pot from time to time.
this looks perfect. i love to eat and make soup, but so often my boyfriend thinks it’s not filling/ hearty enough as a meal for him. this recipe seems like a great way to fix that little problem. merci!
Deb, Thanks for responding. I did crank the heat up a little bit, so maybe that was my problem. I’ll try again another day - probably in my nonstick pot! lol
Hey!! Your recipe got picked up on Slashfood blog!!
Congrats :)
Wow, I love it! And probably need to make it with the peanut butter brownies you made a year ago :) Delicious meal!
My husband is also one of those “soup is not a meal” people but if I make it really hearty and call it stew then he’s fine. Lately I’ve been stuck on adding Belgian Golden ale to my broth but that’s always with chicken or fish/seafood, not beef. I think I’ll try it with this anyway. At worst the beef flavor will cover up the beer flavor.
The temperature here will drop this weekend, it will be perfect soup weather. I wonder if you can use oxtails? My thrifty grandma made a soup similar to this when I was little and used oxtails but I’m not even sure you can buy them at the butcher shop or how to prepare them? I’ve never made soup using short ribs but I’m game. Thank you for your inspiration, I love all your recipe choices, you’ve really inspired me to cook new things and my family loves you for it!!! Sara–share your green chili soup/stew recipe!!
I was wondering, if I wanted more meat could I just increase the number of ribs I put in the pot or would I need to also double liquids, barley, etc? Let me know. Thanks!
I bought Laurie Colwin’s book through a link you provided on one of your posts awhile back. When I received it in the mail, I immediately started to browse through it … only to find I could not put it down! It is absolutely fantastic and I love her approach … not to mention her stories are priceless! Truly sad that she left this Earth at such a young age … very talented indeed.
Marguerite - I’m going to try this recipe this weekend with oxtails that I have in my freezer. I have a new box of barley and just earlier today I warned my husband we’d have to have leek and potato soup this weekend to use up my large pile of leeks from my CSA veg box. And it didn’t make it to 50 degrees today in rainy old England, so it’s perfect weather for soup!!! Deb, thanks for the yummy, easy recipe!
It never ceases to amaze me that I will be thinking of something to make, mulling it over in thought, making lists…… Then I pull up your sight and BAM!………. there. it. is. The perfect recipe for what I was trying to figure out to make. I’m convinced you’re psychic as this has happened more than a few times. Thanks, again!
It’s funny, I’ve been thinking of short ribs lately, even though I haven’t cooked with them in years. What I used to make was a soup not unlike this, Deb. Delicious!
My tummy has been a wee bit upset this afternoon and I’d give just about anything to have a cup of this soup in front of me right now—it looks so hearty and soothing.
This recipe is a nice launching pad for cleaning out the fridge! I’ll switch out the barley for brown rice or quinoa to make it gluten-free. Love the idea of leeks. I always forget about how much I enjoy them in soups and stews. Thanks for the reminder. And it’s definitely soup weather around here. It’s supposed to snow in the Colorado high country this weekend. Melissa
Funny. Fall is definitely here (more like Winter in Seattle). I made a mushroom, leek , barley (and some other stuff in the fridge) soup for dinner a couple days back too. Beef would’ve been nice. I can see lots of soups and stews coming up in my kitchen….and some spicy Indian curries:-(
As soon as we finish up the pot of chicken and dumplings that’s occupying the soup pot and the fridge, I am so making this. I’ll add the mushrooms, and I think kale is a great idea! I’m in Texas and I don’t wait for soup weather, ’cause we so seldom have any. Nothing makes me happier than knowing I have an easy supper all ready, with the addition of some great bread and maybe a salad.
I love beef barley soup and this is perfect for the weather we’re having!
I agree with everyone who says they just found this site and love it - love it - love it. The apple cake — the tomatoes — the onions — the chocolate cake - yum! Thanks, Deb, for all the great recipes. I’m making this soup tonight even though we just came out of triple digits here in Arizona. This is the first “not-100″ day we’ve had in a long time and I’m stretching it into a soup day. Bon appetite to all!
I found the barley at the store! Good ol’ Quaker. This is cooking on the stove right now and it makes me wish I was hungry for lunch, because it smells heavenly.
I think I put a little too much barley in mine–it’s very thick and chunky more than brothy. But still really good, very flavorful. I used boneless short ribs because they were on sale and they turned out just fine. Meat came apart like a lean crock pot roast. The flavor’s different than the cooking smell–I’m surprised at the taste, but it’s really good. :)
Mine is in the fridge, we’ll have it for dinner tomorrow. I want to take off the fat after a few hours of chilling. I couldn’t resist a taste, though! Next time I think I’ll use an extra cup or two of broth. I also added a bit of salt and 2 sliced carrots. Delish and hearty. Also, we have leftover challah from Friday night. I’m so looking forward to the two together.
I made this yesterday. I increased the short ribs to 3 in hopes of getting a more beefy flavor; I used water instead of beef stock. My soup wasn’t happy and I ended up adding about a half a quart of beef stock at the end. Also a dash of kitchen bouquet to help the color.
Also, I seared the ribs first pulled them out and dumped in the onions, leeks and garlic with a dose of salt to caramelize and cook down a bit. It added a hint of sweetness that I really liked.
Great base recipe!
P.S. To Taryn #52. I added an extra rib and increased the water by two cups to account for evaporation. I ended up adding those 2 cups back in stock at the end. Depending on how much soup you want just keep adding ingredients, if you want more beef then leave everything else the same.
Agree about the barley. 1/2 cup makes this more like a porridge and less like I soup. Next time I make it, I’ll add 1/4 cup barley and add it 1 hour into the cooking time so it has a bit of firmness to it.
This sounds like a cross between an Irish stew and a Jewish mushroom-barley soup. Both of which I love.
I love the food photography on your blog, by the way!
Debs
Wow, that does look like a delicious hearty soup. I love leeks in soup, and beef and barley is a great combo. Sometimes simple really is the best!
Oh my, that looks good, I bet it smells amazing simmering on the stove. It reminds me a bit of my mother’s london broil recipe or as we call it tinkine (I don’t know how to spell it, it’s yiddish meaning “to dunk”) Challah is mandatory when she makes it.
Can you let us know approximately how much the short ribs should weigh? I would love to half this recipe or can you lend some advice on how to freeze leftovers?
Hi Deb, Greetings from the far-off Hungary.:) I have loved your site for over a year now, but this was the first time I actually cooked something from here. The soup is great, I used cubed beef so I could save some time with not having to chop it once it is cooked.And I also added some dry white wine, as I almost always do regardless of what I make :)))
As luck would have it, my partner came down with the flu this morning so the soup was proved to be the perfect remedy:) Also a huge thank you for letting me discover barley as an ingredient that has been in my pantry for quite a while, but for some reason I haven’t felt the urge to use it. For now on it is gonna be a big time favourite. Thanks again:)
I made this for dinner on Friday night and it was absolutely fantastic. I used a couple of “soup bones” from our side of beef and they just fell apart at the end into tender chunks. It was so easy and required minimal prep work (my favorite kind of recipe). It also helped me use up the last of the leeks from my farm share, which is always a bonus. I will definitely be adding this one to my stable of cold-weather staples.
I made this soup yesterday for dinner tonight, because as we all know, soup is better the next day. This soup is very hearty and will be especially appreciated tonight because it has rained all day. I added more veggies to make it more of a beef stew, but the flavor is outstanding , with the sweetness from the onions and leeks. My house smells heavenly! Next I am going to try the Challah bread, it looks so good and nothing is better than fresh baked bread. Thanks for making this rainy day a little brighter with this recipe.
I made this soup this morning for us to have for dinner on Tuesday.
It smelled so good that we all had to taste a small bowl when it had
finished cooking.
We are all now looking forward to dinner on Tuesday evening.
My son even took some for lunch tomorrow.
Thanks for a great recipe.
Denise
I made this soup today and I really have to thank you for blogging about it. I made it following your recipe with the exception of only having boneless short-ribs (a bit over a pound). The soup really added a wonderful fragrance to our house. It was delicious on a rainy day and I froze three portions.
Today’s shortbread looks so yummy!
I made it yesterday and found it a bit blah - too sweet and not enough beef flavor. (I had used water rather than beef stock.) Today, since it was very thick because of the barley, I made some mashed potatoes, put the soup in a casserole, and turned it into shepherd pie. But first I reheated the soup and added a lot of fresh thyme and simmered it for half an hour. The shepherd pie version was very tasty.
Found your recipe thru Slashfood & made it tonight with a base of half beef broth and half mushroom broth. I will definitely be adding it to my repetoire. It was a light dish with a wonderfully rich, robust flavor! Thanks so much for sharing!
I made this yesterday and my house still smelled fantastic this morning! The farmer’s market had great veggies in so I ended up adding carrots, red potatoes, and crimini mushrooms along with extra water, extra ribs, extra barley, a little beef base, Belgian Golden ale, and a bouquet of fresh herbs. Since it became a thick stew at that point my soup-is-not-a-meal husband considered it dinner. I love these base recipes that you can add to without worry!
I made the soup this weekend and thought it was fantastic. My husband didn’t like it though - thought the mushrooms I added “ruined” it. : ) His loss, my gain! I added two carrots and (like I said) two med sized portobello mushrooms at the start. I think next time I’ll skip the mushrooms and wait until a bit into the cooking to add the barley - it was a bit too done for my taste. Overall though it was great and soooo good with crusty bread!
Best. Easiest. Soup. Ever. Along with apple cake for dessert. Two days running plus I had it for lunch. I may turn into a leek.
My boyfriend is going to LOVE this, as he is the biggest soup fan i’ve ever met. Our anniversary is coming up and I can’t think of a better thing to cook for him while we’re celebrating up at our beach house in Washington. October in Washington = perfect time to cook soup. Thanks!!
Hi…im new to this site and im so happy I found it…i’ve put it on my desktop :) I love the look of this soup…and lucky me…I have all the ingredients on hand…dont you just love when that happens lol….anyway I think I’ll try this one out tomorrow…thanks!
Sounds like a hearty combination of ingredients! Thanks for still giving us directions because I’m the type of person that still needs them. :)
I added about a half a bunch of chopped kale 15 minutes before serving, this made it into a one bowl meal. We added bread smeared with roasted garlic and it was great. Thanks!
If you’re looking to substitute another, leaner cut of beef, try cubed chuck - it has enough fat in it that it gets tender during slow cooking, but is far leaner than short ribs. Don’t use cubed round, which is often sold for use in stews, but which is very lean and becomes tough during a long simmer. Browning the meat would also add additional flavor to the soup, although admittedly at the cost of an extra step! Can’t wait to try this - maybe even in my slow-cooker.
I didn’t see if anyone else asked this, but what kind of difference would there be doing this in a slow cooker? It looks like an awesome weeknight-curl-up-on-the-couch-kind kind of meal… but the 3 hours on stove top destroy that option for us with 9-5s.
When I made this soup on Sunday I had the same reaction as Vicki. I too had only used water. I stored the soup in the fridge feeling disappointed, but it seems that was all it needed. I took some out last night to have for dinner and it proved to be one of, if not the, best soup I’ve ever made.
I made this soup Wednesday during the debate, with some changes of course. Instead of beef ribs, I used half a smoked pheasant we had in the fridge (making sure to pick out all the small bones after cooking), and also threw in some cubed butternut squash, cauliflower, capers, and sundried tomatoes (leftovers from the recent NY Times autumn panzanella, minus the bread). The smoked pheasant gave it a pleasant, smoky taste, and also made the dried-out pheasant more tender during the cooking process. Like you said, this soup can take all manner of extra ingredients, and it was delicious served the next day with a light salad and some crusty bread. Thanks for the idea!
I have been looking for such a recipe as this beef and barley soup. I am going to use tri tip and cut it into small pieces. I hope the meat will just fall apart. Thanks for such a hearty recipe. Can’t wait until tomorrow!!
I tried this tonight and added mushrooms and winter squash (a small golden nugget squash, to be exact). It was delicious and easy! Thanks!
I don’t usually post recommendations on people’s blogs, but I threw in like a teaspoon of rosemary when the soup had been cooking for an hour, and it added a whole other dimension to the soup. It is so tasty.
Making this now… Browned the onions and short ribs beforehand and added a few sprigs of thyme and some mushroom. So far, looking and smelling snarfle-able. Off to mind my own business now and try to give the soup some space. You are right, it’s not so into clingy.
I, too, would like to know what you think about making the soup totally without the meat for vegetarians? I am not opposed to beef stock..just don’t eat any meat. Thanks.
I made this last Friday for my carnivore boyfriend, and he ate two bowls. We also added potatoes and mushrooms, and it was delicious. I still have some leftovers that I’m going to enjoy tonight.
I made this recipe in my new Le Creuset pot (bought it in May and just now found a good time to use it). What better way to christen it! It turned out fab. I used mushrooms and beef stock and it was perfect.
First, this soup looks amazing. I have made plenty of beef barley soup before, but never with leeks, and I think that will just take it over the top.
Second, this is the most comments I have ever seen on a soup recipe. You must be doing something right!
On my mum’s advice, I did this one in the crockpot, for about 9-10 hours on low, overnight. (I reduced the liquid by 1 cup, using 4 cups stock and 3 cups water.) Then, I let it sit all day and in the evening, simmered it for about 30-45 minutes on medium heat. The meat slid right off the bone at this point. I added a dollop each of turmeric, curry and cumin, and the final result was thick and tasty, more stewlike than soupy.
Very tasty with crusty white bread and butter! It definitely improves from sitting all day. I think it’s probably a better idea to use beef stock than water, though.
And I made the recently posted apple cake for dessert (in two loaf pans because I don’t have a tube pan) and it was very, very tasty! Thanks for both of these recipes.
I made it for myself and a friend last night. Good recipe, very easy and very simple. I compiled a few ideas for changes that we thought might be good.
- Add a bit of kosher salt. Maybe 1tsp at the start.
- Chopped carrots for a bit of sweetness.
- Cook a mirepoix in the pot first, then add all the ingredients.
- Chopped carrots for some sweetness, regardless if you do a mirepoix.
- Potatoes for some texture.
- Beer: Toss in the shortribs, pour in half a bottle of amber ale or less, let simmer for a bit, then add the rest of the ingredients. Note: I used a water base, so a beef stock base would taste different and probably not warrant this use of beer.
I followed all of Robert’s suggestions, as well as using beef broth and beer…and it came out funky. I think leeks plus beer plus carrots = too much sweetness. I also used a bit of turnip.
There might be something to be said for sticking to the recipe. Or maybe I just don’t like leek soup. Shrug. Too bad I made a huge pot of it. Trying to pawn it off on the neighbors now. ;-)
I made this recipe this weekend and it went perfectly with my Mad Men marathon, as well as the blustery weather. I added turnips and parsnips which was delicious.
Dear Deb
I’m usually a lurker but I had to write because I adore Laurie Colwin. I reread her cookbooks at least once a year. I bought my daughters copies of her books because I feel a kitchen is better/homier with her on the bookshelf.
Thank you for the soup nudge, I couldn’t decide what to make for dinner tonight and was driving past a butcher where I noticed a sign for short ribs and the words Smitten Kitchen came to mind. My husband loves beef barley soup. He was a happy camper.
I also made your mom’s apple cake for a meeting today. It was a hit. Thanks for two great recipes.
Alison