New Year's Eve Leek, Barley and Short Rib Stoup

Back in the olden days before we had fancy things like chopping knives or cutting boards, we lived a simple life. A life of one pot meals with minimal chopping and foods that could be reheated in a sauté pan. (And by olden days I mean before we got the delivery of our household goods!)

But how do you celebrate a holiday, such as New Year's Eve, with a one pot meal? With a new soup recipe of course!

I found this great basic recipe for a leek, barley and beef soup and I decided I could do one step better with a little improvisation. So off I went to the commissary for supplies!

Leek, Barley and Short Rib Stoup:

~ 2lbs. of short ribs (with a little bit of fat visible too)

3 leeks, chopped width wise using the white part too

1 cup barley

2 onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 baking potatoes, scrubbed and chopped in bite size pieces

1 can corn

1 can peas

6-8 cups water

shredded cheese (as topping if desired)

sour cream (as topping if desired)

So as you can see above, all of the above chopping was done with a leatherman. Again. During the process of chopping all the veggies, I swore next time we move, I will be packing one of my good knives with me so I will never again have to use a leatherman to do my dirty work. Don't get me wrong, had we not had this, life would have been even more miserable that it was and I am very grateful, but I also learned a HUGE appreciation for current kitchen conveniences. 

Place the ribs in the bottom of your stock pot. Chop your onions, garlic and leeks and just heap them on top of your short ribs. 

I got a little cocky and thought, "Oh, I don't need a stock pot! I can use my regular pot that I normally use to make black beans in! That will be PLENTY of room!" I was wrong. Halfway through chopping up my leeks, I realized quickly that my pot was not going to be big enough. I thought seriously about sending my husband to the PX to pick up a stock pot but then decided against that idea because I love him, but I don't think he would know a stock pot if it bit him on the...foot. 

The only problem with leaving things out while I made the quick trip to the PX was Jack. You remember Jack, that lovable little bundle of catness that likes to eat everything she can get her paws on, especially new ingredients. (See my recipe for bruschetta!) I locked Jack in the bedroom with my husband, ran for a pot and came back. But even in the two minutes I took to tell Alan about the new pot I got, by the time I came back to the kitchen Jack was on the counter inching towards the leeks, the new ingredient in the house! Crazy Cat! 

I transferred the beginnings of my soup to the new, cleaned pot and continued. Once you chop up all the onions, garlic and leeks, add the water, salt and pepper as well as the barley. I used closer to 8 cups of water because I knew I wanted to cook it low and slow for a majority of the day. 

Give the soup a nice stir and bring it to a boil on the back burner. Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and just leave it alone for a bit. When you go into the kitchen, give it a little stir, but otherwise, this is a low-maintenance recipe. 

When you are about an hour and a half to an hour away from wanting to serve dinner, go ahead and add the corn and chopped potatoes to the pot to give them an opportunity to cook but also let a little bit of the starch incorporate to thicken the soup a bit. 

About 15-20 minutes before the soup is ready, remove the short ribs from the pot (bones too if you can find them), and shred the meat. This should be super easy to do! The meat should be just fall-off-the-bone tender and delicious and moist and wonderful! 

Not the best picture ever, but you can see it was easy enough the husband could do it! (Just kidding, he's really an amazing cook as well!) 

Add the meat back to the pot as well as the peas (so they don't get too mushy). Maintain the simmer and skim any grease or fat off the top of the soup. 

While we had bowls and spoons to eat the soup, once it was done I realized a fatal flaw. We had no way to serve the soup from the pot to the bowl. Once again, we had to get creative. We ended up using a mug to scoop and serve it. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do! 

This was the soup before the desired toppings. By itself, it was pretty good. However, I am a firm believer that everything tastes better with cheese. And sour cream is just a bonus. They both worked pretty well for this soup! 

The husband added a little hot sauce to his for a bit of an added spice. But then again he adds hot sauce to everything so I wasn't too bothered. Actually, with a little dab of added hot sauce it wasn't too bad. 

Overall, it was a great mid-winter meal to have on a cold, crisp night cuddled up to your significant other waiting for the ball to drop. Literally. We had a great time on New Year's Eve and this meal was just the start to it. (And by the way we figure it, it may have been when we conceived our soon to be baby!) 

Thank you so much for coming by to check out the newest recipe. I really appreciate it. And sorry it took so long to get up since I promised it a month ago!! Forgive my tardiness, but you know what they say: Better late than never!!