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Homemade Pearl Barley Beef Stew/Soup is great any time of the year, and especially during the fall and winter. Loaded with nutrition, this stew/soup can be made with pearl barley, the meat of your choice, and any fresh vegetables that you happen to have on hand. I ended up miscalculating just how small my pots are or how much stew I put on to cook. In other words, the taters were not added to the pot this time. I will boil them up to serve at dinner and top the stew/soup into each individual bowl. This way whoever wants potatoes in their stew/soup can add their own amounts.

Homemade Beef Barley Stew/Soup

 Ingredients-

3 Bay Leaves

6 whole peppercorns

6 white onions ( I also added a purple onion)

5 large carrots

2 cups pearl barley

1 kg or 2 lbs of stew beef ( I also added a t-bone steak to the pot)

6 celery ribs

1 large container of beef broth

6 large potatoes

salt to taste

Method- For this recipe you will need a large stock pot. Place it on the stove and add the large container of beef broth (liquid form). Afterwards, peel some garlic cloves and add it to the broth. Next add your bay leaves, and peppercorns. Turn the pot on to boil and as it is doing so, measure out your pearl barley and wash it  in cold water to remove the starch. Add the pearl barley and the meat to the pot. Let it slow boil for about an hour.

While this is boiling, cut the ends off of the carrots and onions. Peel the onions and leave them whole. Peel the carrots and cut in half and then cut lengthwise. Take your potatoes and wash them, without removing the skins. Cut them into quarters. Cut the ends off of the celery stalks and cut them into rather large chunks.

Add the whole onions to the pot first. Leave the stew simmering as the pearl barley, meat, and onion is cooking. After 10 minutes, add the rest of your vegetables. Cover the pot and turn the heat down to a low simmer. Check the pot often, pearl barley is very starchy. The liquid in the pot will thicken as the pearl barley cooks. Add more water if it appears to be too thick. This version of my homemade beef barley soup is more like a stew as it is a little thick and does not need no flour or other gravy thickener added to it.

 This can be eaten as is, or accompanied with bread and a salad.

 Bon Appetit!