I can't believe it's not Barley and Beef soup, (Sorry, I just couldn't resist saying tha
One of my January 2015 recipes for National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, now Beyond Celiac.
In England I loved throwing barley into soups and stews, soft but chewy, different texture, totally wonderful. With gluten free, I happily use quinoa grains in lots of recipes but quinoa just isn't the same as barley. When I spoke at the 40th Annual Gluten Intolerance Group conference in Atlanta in May, I heard Carol Fenster say that she uses sorghum for a barley substitute. Came home, tried it and it works. I do notice that even with soaking overnight and over an hours cooking, plus sitting in whatever soup or stew it's in, sorghum still stays chewy and doesn't go 'soggy'. So kids who don't like texture might object. Kids might also object to having to chew stew beef, plus it's easier to use ground beef. I did notice that when I cooked sorghum on its own it left a heavy starch ring around a non stick pan that was difficult to clean. I find my local regular grocery store carries Bobs sorghum grain. I used the vegetables we would use in the winter in England. Go ahead and use what you like for different flavors each time.
½ cup (120ml) sorghum grain soaked in cold water to cover overnight, then drained and rinsed
1-1+1/2 lbs (500-750 g) stew beef cut into small pieces or same of ground beef.
2-4 tbsp (30-60 ml) olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely crushed
4 large carrots, peeled and quartered lengthwise and cut into ½ inch pieces
2 sticks of celery, washed, quartered lengthwise and cut into ½ inch pieces
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried rosemary
½ tsp dried sage (these are herbs we have in England called Mixed Herbs. They do not taste like Italian herb blend)
2 bay leaves
6 cups (48 fl oz) gf beef stock
¼ c (60ml, 2 fl oz) tomato paste or tomato ketchup
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp (15 ml) gf cornstarch (UK cornflour) mixed with 2 tbsp (30 ml) cold water -optional to thicken.
1. In large stock pot, heat oil, add onions and cook over medium heat until starting to brown, add either stew meat or ground beef and cook until stew meat is seared or ground beef is brown.
2. Add carrots and celery and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add drained sorghum, garlic, herbs, stock, tomato and salt and pepper.
4. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, cover and cook for at least one hour. Stew beef needs at least this length of cooking and sorghum needs at least an hour as well. But you have to taste for tenderness of beef and sorghum. Sorghum will still be chewy but shouldn't have the hard raw center of undercooked pasta or rice.
5. Depending on how well your pan lid fits, more liquid might have evaporated so add more at the end to your taste. I like to add some milk. My husband likes the soup slightly thickened. Taste and adjust seasonings. I do like to throw in some loose, chopped, frozen spinach. Chopped sun dried tomatoes at beginning are good. Leeks instead of onions. Parsnips, turnips, rutabaga (swede), butternut squash are all good additions.
