Posts tagged carrots
Beef & Barley Stew
I love making dishes with ingredients that aren't your every day foods. Barley is an inexpensive and relatively easy ingredient to find, yet vastly under utilized in the kitchen. Barley is a wonderfully versatile grain with a rich nutlike flavor and an appealing pasta-like consistency. Tonight my husband made us a rich stew with delicious beef and barley, wonderful compliments to one another. 



Ingredients: 
1.5 lbs stew beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 celery stalks, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
4 carrots, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
3 bay leaves
2 springs thyme
1 cup instant pearled barley 
10 cups beef broth
Salt and Pepper

Heat your oil in a large le creuset pot. Pat your beef dry and add it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper and cook and stir occasionally until brown on all sides. Remove your meat from the pot and then add your onions, garlic, celery, and carrots. Cook until soft and golden, about 8-10 minutes. Add your meat back to the pot. Add your thyme and bay leaves, and broth. Season again with about a teaspoon of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 1 hour. Add your barley and cook for another 20-25 minutes until both your barley and meat are tender. Add more salt and pepper if needed. 



This should give you about 4 servings. Its a relatively easy dish with a deep homey flavor. Its a great way to "beef" up your typical stew with a delicious and unexpected ingredient. I hope you enjoy it!

Curried Chicken Carrot Soup
I know a lot of my friends are afraid of curry. Don't be. Its a wonderful spice that is easy to control. This curried chicken soup recipe is a very refreshing and light. Its still warm and satisfying due to the rice and curry, but there is no cream and hardly any fat, so its a great healthy meal option during the new year. (Gotta stick to those resolutions, right?) 




4 small chicken breasts
2 carrots chopped into 2 inch pieces
2 bay leaves
kosher salt
pepper
6 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion thinly sliced into half moons
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup white rice
3 tablespoons freshly chopped dill
1/2 lemon 

Put your chicken, carrots, bay leaf and 1 tsp salt into a medium saucepan. Put 3 cups of chicken broth in the pan and bring it to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the chicken is cooked through (about 20 minutes). 

In another medium saucepan, melt your butter on medium heat. Add the onion, sugar, and 1 tsp salt and cook until the onion is soft (about 5 minutes). Add the curry and cook for 1 additional minute. Then add the remaining 3 cups of chicken broth. Using an immersion blender, blend the onions and broth until smooth. Then add your rice and simmer over medium heat, covered, until rice is cooked (about 15 minutes).

Shred your chicken pieces and remove your bay leaves. Combine both sauce pans into one and bring to a simmer. Add your chopped dill and the juice of 1/2 of a lemon and pour into 4 serving bowls. 

Bon apetite!