Beef and Barley Soup

Ingredients

• 450g chuck steak, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 2 cups beef stock
• 3-4 cups water
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. paprika (we used sweet/Hungarian)
• 1 large carrot or 2 med, cut into large chunks
• 2 large potatoes, chopped, skin on
• 1 ¼ cups pearl barley
• 2 large mushrooms or 6 button mushroom, chopped
• 1 tbsp. worcestershire shire sauce

Method

1. 1In a pot or frypan, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and brown meat, approx. 4 mins, spoon onto plate and set aside.
2. 2Heat remaining olive oil, 1 tbsp. and sauté onion, approx. 5 mins or until softened. Add beef back to pan with garlic, paprika, worcestershire sauce and barley. Sauté 1 min. (if using slow cooker transfer across now and set to low or high).
3. 3Add beef stock and 2 cups water, thyme and pepper, carrots and potato and mushrooms. For stove top simmer on low heat, on your smallest hob, for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. 4You will need to add more water as the barley would have soaked up a lot of the liquid. Stove top - simmer a further 2 hours.
5. 5Taste, you can add more pepper and thyme or garlic to suit your taste.
6. 6Serve or leave until next day so flavours all incorporate.