* Beef and Barley Stew

I finally remembered to get the beef out of the freezer in advance, then totally didn't know what to do with it until I remembered I'd bought some Pearl Barley to make a soup with. Funnily enough, I didn't want to make a soup so I *beefed up* (ha-ha) the idea and made a stew instead.

I'm lying.

This was one of those happy accidents where you put too much of one thing or another into the pot, and end up with something similar to what you wanted... but not quite.

It was meant to be a soup, but it had a metamorphosis around the *add 150g of pearl barley* stage.

I like pearl barley.

I like it ALOT.

Am I the only one that suffers with flatulence that could level tall buildings after eating it?

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Serves 4 -5

Prep time - 10 minutes

Cooking time - 2hrs 15mins - 2hrs 30mins

You will need

A large saucepan

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 lb beef skirt/good quality stewing steak

salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 large onion - chopped

2 large carrots - chopped

125 g chestnut mushrooms - sliced

125g closed cup mushrooms - sliced

2 tbsp tomato puree/concentrate

4 cloves garlic - crushed

250ml red wine

1 ltr beef stock - from a cube is fine

750ml water

200g pearl barley

Method

Season the beef with 1 tsp salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Heat the oil in the pan over a medium heat and brown the meat. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon - it doesn't matter if some pink remains.

Add the onion, carrot and mushrooms to the pan (and a little more oil if you need to) and cook until softened and coloured - about 15 minutes. Add the tomato puree and garlic, and stir for 3 minutes. Add the wine and stir it through the vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add the beef, the stock and the water to the pan and bring to a boil. Then cover and simmer for 1 hour. Give it the occasional stir.

Add the pearl barley and cook, uncovered for 30 - 40 minutes until the beef and barley are tender and most of the stock has been absorbed.

 EAT!

Barely adapted from Martha Stewarts's Beef and Barley Soup