Beef, Beer, and Barley Soup #StPatricksDay @MaddieDayAuthor #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, with a hearty Irish soup to fill your belly and warm your toes.

Barley is an ancient grain that's chewy and delicious and lends itself well to a winter soup. Add browned beef, some veggies, over-wintered herbs, stock, and a dark stout, and you have a tasty easy dinner easily adaptable to making in a slow cooker.

Beef and Barley Soup

Ingredients

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch chunks

4 carrots, peeled and chopped (I didn't have four carrots and used two small ones)

4 celery ribs, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

12 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, NOT drained

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary

1 cup stout or dark beer

7 cups beef broth (homemade would be best)

1 cup pearl barley

Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

 

Instructions

In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven or pasta pot. Season beef with salt and pepper, to taste. Working in batches, when the oil shimmers, add the beef and brown on all sides (it doesn’t need to be cooked through – just make sure it gets nice color on the outside) – about 10 minutes.

 

Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the pot and set it aside (leave the fat in the pot).

Add the onion to the pot. Saute until it begins to soften. 

Add carrots and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for 5 more minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for one more minute.

Stir in the tomatoes, thyme, rosemary, beer, and broth. Scrape up all of the flavorful beef bits from the bottom of the pot as you stir. Return the beef to the pot. Season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

Increase the heat and bring soup to a boil. As soon as the soup boils, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour (or until beef is tender). Add the barley, cover, and simmer for 30 more minutes or until barley is tender.

Taste the soup and season with additional salt and pepper, if needed.

Ladle soup into bowls and enjoy with freshly baked biscuits and a green salad.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'll send one commenter a copy of Four Leaf Cleaver.

Readers: What's your favorite winter soup? 

My most recent release is Four Leaf Cleaver, which came out in January, 2023.

The next book out will be Murder at a Cape Bookstore, releasing in August, 2023.

Murder in a Cape Cottage is the fourth Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery, which came out in September, 2022.

"Scarfed Down," my Country Store novella in the collection Christmas Scarf Murder also released 2022.

Check out all my writing!

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.