Ina's Beef Barley Soup

My mother made barley soup for as long as I can remember and when she was no longer able to do much cooking, it was my turn to keep my parents supplied with their favorite soup. I confess, I got mighty sick of barley soup as I made it for them for many years. My sister makes a great barley soup too (she's the world's best soup maker, as you've read here many times) and while I thought I'd never, ever! make barley soup again, after reading Ina's recipe, I gave in and decided to give it one more try. So glad I did. It's an amazing recipe, better than mother's, full of flavor and freezes a dream.

Please notice the bread on the side; I wrote about them last post HERE. Yes, it really is yeast bread from scratch, but baked in the little ramekins.
Enjoy!

Ina's Beef Barley Soup
2010, Barefoot Contessa How Easy is That?

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon good olive oil
2 pounds beef oxtails
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 leeks)
2 cups (1/2-inch) diced carrots (4 carrots)
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup (1/2-inch) diced celery (2 stalks)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
3 bay leaves
10 cups canned beef broth
1 cup pearled barley

Method:
Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset. Add the oxtails, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes until browned all over. Remove the oxtails with a slotted spoon and reserve.

Add the leeks, carrots, onion, celery, and garlic to the fat in the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the vegetables start to brown. Tie the thyme sprigs together with kitchen string and add to the pot along with the bay leaves. 

Return the oxtails to the pot and add the broth, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. 

Discard the thyme bundle and the bay leaves, and skim off the fat.

Meanwhile, bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add the barley. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, drain, and set aside.

When the soup is ready, add the barley and cook the soup for another 15 or 20 minutes, until the barley is tender. Depending on the saltiness of the stock, the soup might need another teaspoon of salt and some pepper. Serve hot, with or without the oxtails. (I removed the oxtails and cut off the meat, returning it to the soup.)

Pain de Mie

Pain de Mie is traditionally baked in closed molds or pans in order to minimize the amount of crust and maximize the amount of crumb, or in French, mie.  Basically, it's a sandwich bread. You don't need to bake it in a Pullman type pan...but if you have one, go ahead. That's the traditional way to bake it. 
I originally saw this recipe on Give Me Flour, but have seen it on the King Arthur site as well. It's a lovely loaf, marvelous toasted and great for sandwiches.
But as a bonus, I saw a very cute idea on Alexandra Cooks.  She had made a lentil soup and used a basic bread recipe to make some small individual ramekins of bread. I thought it would be fun to try and they turned out perfectly. Because this recipe yields two loaves, I used half of the Pain de Mie dough to make some little "loaves". (Your favorite bread dough will work just as well.) It was such a clever and fun idea....soup, with your own little round of homemade bread.
While I didn't use butter on the main loaf, I did use butter to coat the ramekins and brushed the tops with butter too.

Pain de Mie
Adapted from Give Me Flour

Yields 2 loaves

Ingredients:
8 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 and 2/3 cups warm water
½ cup olive oil

Method:
By Hand:  In a large bowl, combine water, sugar, salt and olive oil. Add flour and yeast, stirring till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface and knead it for 5 to 8 minutes, or until it’s smooth. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow the dough to rise till puffy or nearly doubled, about 45 minutes (depends on the warmth of your kitchen).

Mixer: Combine flour and yeast in a bowl. Add salt, sugar, olive oil and water to the mixer  bowl and then add the flour and yeast. Mix on low speed with the dough hook attachment for 4 minutes and medium speed for 4 more minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow the dough to rise till puffy or nearly doubled, about 45 minutes (depends on the warmth of your kitchen).
Divide the dough into two pieces, pre-shape into oblongs, cover and let it relax for 15 minutes.
Lightly grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Pat the dough out, fold it over on itself, and then use the side of your hand to seal the edges. Flip the dough so the sealed edge is on the bottom. Roll the dough under your palms into a cylinder 8in long.
Fit it into the pans, sprinkle some flour on top, cover with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour (again, depending on the warmth of your kitchen it may rise even more slowly).
Preheat your oven to 375°F and bake the bread for 40 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely before serving.

The minis:

And I had enough left over to use one of the larger ramekins:

How cute is that?

Sue's Wild Rice Salad

Resolutions. Do you make them? 

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Sue from The View From the Great Island posted this marvelous salad recently and it's a winner! Healthy, crunchy and easy to make. Awesome start for the new year.

Wild Rice Salad with Cranberries and Nuts

Found on The View From the Great Island

Ingredients:

1 cup wild rice, rinsed

1/4 cup raw pecan halves
1/4 cup whole raw cashews

1/4 cup pistachios

1/4 small red onion

several small inner stalks of celery, with leaves

3 green onions

1/2 cup dried cranberries

For the dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon of your favorite vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon honey

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Soak the rice in plenty of water for 8 hours. Drain and then bring a quart of water and a teaspoon of salt to a boil in a saucepan and add the rice. Bring back to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and cook for about 35-40 minutes, or just until the rice is tender. Sue suggests: wild rice will always have a little bite to it, so don't try to cook it until completely soft.

While the rice is cooking, put the pecans and cashews in a large skillet and toast, them over medium heat. Let them cool before giving them a rough chop.

Drain the rice and put in a bowl.

Toss the warm rice with the rest of the ingredients.

Whisk together the dressing in a small jar. Shake it vigorously and it should emulsify. Taste it to adjust the amount of vinegar or seasonings. Toss the salad with half of the dressing, and then refrigerate until completely chilled.

When ready to serve, add more dressing and toss well.