lamb and barley soup

ok, the cold snap is coming, if you're in melbourne. melbourne gets windy and while it doesn't have the sub-zero temperatures of other cities around the world, we have the wind chill factor. this is the time of year when you need a beanie, a scarf and a belly full of soup.

i cooked this last weekend for the fam, when they came over for lunch.

when i was a kid, campbell's had a soup called stock pot. i remember it for its lamb pieces and barley. it was my favourite soup when i was about 7.

so i tried to recreate it and think i did a fine job.

three general tips for cooking soup.

1. start with cold water. don't pour boiling or heated water into the pot.

2. don't add too many ingredients. then you end up with stew. which is fine, if it's stew. but when you want soup, you don't want stew.

3. don't boil the soup. gently bring it to the boil at the beginning, then let it simmer.

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Lamb and barley soup

Ingredients
1 small leg of lamb
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
1 large onion
2 cups pearled barley, soaked as per instructions on packet
peas [frozen or dried ok]

Cut fat off lamb as much as possible. Cut meat off bone in one chunk so you have two pieces.

Barley – once it’s been soaked it needs to be cooked in water. Follow instructions on packet.


Method
Gently saute the onion, carrots and celery. Once they are softened, about 5-10 minutes, put in the lamb pieces, fry gently then cover with cold water. Bring to the boil then simmer half-covered gently for several hours.

When the meat is tender, remove and shred. Put back in the pot.
When the barley is ready, add to pot.

When almost ready to serve, add the peas.

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we ate this with crusty bread and butter. and you know my feelings about margarine etc.

go the butter.