Apr 25: Barley Beef Soup

With leftover roast from a couple days ago. Okay, It was more than a "couple" days.

Take two:
With leftover roast from a few days ago. I had a hankering for Barley Beef Soup. Thank goodness for refrigeration cycle and the advent of refrigerators! lol :)

Simple recipe...

Beef Barley Soup
2/3 C Carrot, large dice
2/3 C Celery, large dice
1 to 1 1/3 C Onion, smaller dice
1 C Beef, diced
3 quarts Water
1 T of Beef Soup Base [Could add another teaspoon or two]
1/4 t Thyme
1 Clove of Garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Sweat the veggies - celery, onion, carrots and the garlic. For the oil, I used the beef trimming and a little beef fat


After a few minutes, add the barley (uncooked), beef, water and soup base.
Simmer for 90 minutes to 2 hours. I added the thyme after 1 hour of simmering.


The finished soup... The barley plumped up nicely.
However, still needs a little more salt. Next time, I'll use a little more soup base per the instructions.



The new "secret" ingredient... Usually I would use packaged broth or bouillon cubes, but I've seen on some cooking shows where chefs mention using soup base. Also, there's a cooking magazine that likes to illustrate their point that rates soup base rather highly.

The flavor is very similar to the fond from a freshly roasted beef while bouillon cubes are mainly salty with shades of beefiness.

Hmmm... This would also make a good start for the dip in a French dip sandwich. :)

Jan 22: Egg Lemon Soup (Avgolemono)

After poaching the chicken for the mole and the rest of the bones, I made a chicken stock. Also, with a half lemon from last night, I wanted to try making an Egg Lemon Soup, which is a classic Greek soup, Avgolemono.

Another plus is the few ingredients needed to make the soup.

For today, I made a small batch to try it out.

Egg Lemon Soup
2 C Chicken Broth
1 egg white, whipped to stiff peaks
1 egg yolk
1/2 Lemon, juiced
1/2 C Rice, I had cooked brown rice


1. Bring the stock to a boil... turn off the heat.

2. Beat the egg yolk and combine with the egg white.

3. When the stock is ready, mix the lemon juice into the egg mixture.

4. Temper the egg mixture, by slowly adding about 1 Cup of hot stock while mixing the egg mixture.

Tempering the egg.


Pour the egg into the hot stock, turn heat to medium. Generally, the instructions are to heat the soup without boiling or simmering, to prevent curdling, until thick.
NOTE: Being a geek, I placed a thermometer into the soup and cooked to 170F. Why 170F? Supposedly, temperatures above 160F will destroy any bad bacteria lurking in the egg. The extra 10 F is to account for any inaccuracies in the thermometer.


The finished soup garnished with a little green onion.


A nice chicken soup with a tart lemon finish. The soup wasn't as thick as I hoped, but still had a nice velvety consistency.

Nov 08: Potato Leek Soup

A couple weeks ago was the last day of the season for Tacoma's Farmers Market. I lucked out and happened to be in the area.

I scored a great deal on a bunch of leeks, $1 for a bunch. In the supermarket, it's a $5 expense.

Leeks are a member of the onion family, Allium. Other delicious members of the family are onions, shallots, garlic and chives. Now that's a yummy family tree!

What to do with the leeks?

One of the simplest preparations is Potato Leek Soup I learned from S.
Potatoes, leeks, salt and water or broth.

Potato Leek Soup

8 ounces Leek, sliced (about 2 cups)
1 pound Potato, peeled and cubed (about 4 cups)
3 cups liquid (I used 1 C broth + 2 C Water)
1 Chicken bullion cube (Optional)
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1T Butter
Milk or Cream or Sour Cream (Optional)



Leeks are grown by mounding soil around the stalk as the stalk grows. The mound blocks light helps keep the leaves white and tender. However, the mounding just means that you end up with dirt in-between the layers of leaves.

To wash... I split the leek down the middle and slice into semi-circles.



Soak the sliced leaves in water for a few minutes, to loosen dirt, and swish around. Repeat as needed.


Potatoes are coarsely chopped.



Optional: saute the cleaned leeks in butter and salt for about 5 minutes. Don't need to brown.


Add the potatoes and a quick stir.


Add the liquid and bullion cube. Simmer about 30 to 40 minutes.


The Finished Soup
The soup can be served many ways...

As a hearty, chunky rustic soup....


Or more typically, pureed in a blender. Since the soup is low fat, you can add milk or cream to the soup during blending.

Instead of using a blender, I used a stick (immersion) blender to puree the soup.



I didn't have any cream or sour cream... I did find some cream cheese so I added a small dab of cream cheese.


I wanted the soup to be a little more heartier so I added a pouched egg.


Overall, the soup turned out nicely. Nice leek flavor and easy to make.

What surprised me was the blended soup was very smooth, silky and thick. No cream was added but the texture was similar to a rich bisque. Also, the soup reminded me of a split pea soup without the grittiness that sometimes accompanies split pea soup.

Sep 08: Homemade attampt at Pho

Most of the time what I decide to cook comes about based upon my cravings and shopping while hungry.

For example, I spied a package of beef neck bones. Looking at the beef bones, I thought to myself, “How about making a soup? Let’s try my hand at Pho (pronounced, "fuh")?”

Pho is a flavorful Vietnamese beef soup served with rice noodles, bean sprouts, holy basil and lime. Condiments used in the soup are typically hoisin sauce and Sriracha hot sauce.

I was first introduced to Pho by a Vietnamese classmate in college back in 1987, 1988 or 1989. (Hmmm… I guess it's true what is said about the mind going first when you get older. lol!) He was kind enough to drive me home from college during a holiday. We stopped in San Jose, which has a large Vietnamese population, for a bowl of Pho.

Pho? What's Pho? Wikipedia comes through with a description: Pho lol!

My reaction upon tasting the soup was wow! This is a great tasting soup with a lot of flavor from star anise and other new flavors! This hot sauce is hot, but I can’t stop eating it. :) Afterwards, I made it a point to stop by San Jose for a bowl of Pho when I had a chance.

Currently, pho restaurants are becoming mainstream and quite popular so my need to drive to SJ can be appeased locally.

Searching the internet, there are many recipes but I homed in on this one… http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/bookshelf/articles/pho_SJM.htm which I used as a basis. I didn’t make the recipe verbatim. I didn’t buy enough soup bones so I used it as a guide.

Pho Broth
2 lb Beef Bones, meaty ones preferred
1 lb Chuck Steak
5 Cloves
2 Star Anise
1 inch pieced of Ginger
1 Onion, halved
1 T Rock Sugar (about the size of a tablespoon)
Water for parboiling the bones.
3 quarts of water for the broth
2 T Fish Sauce

1. Bring a pot of water (enough to cover the bones) to boil and add the beef bones. Boil about 3 minutes. Drain and rinse the bones. Wash the pot of any residue.

2. Since I don’t have a gas stove, charred the onion and ginger under the broiler.

3. Salt and pepper the chuck steak and brown in a frying pan with a little oil.

4. Add the 3 quarts of water and all the ingredients, except the fish sauce.

5. Bring to a boil and let simmer. (I actually placed in a 175F oven for overnight.)

6. After the broth is done… add the fish sauce plus salt to taste. Refrigerate to de-fat the broth.

This is the finished broth. Darker and not as clear as I wanted. Also, the flavor is kind of mild. It doesn't have the “Wow!” I was looking for.


Thank goodness for pictures on packages. The rice noodles for the pho. Rice noodles are reconsituted by soaking in boiling hot water for about 5 minutes.


My bowl ready for the broth - bean sprouts, limes, holy basil, chili paste and hoisin sauce.


The finished bowl... Hot broth added and limes squeezed.


Overall, the broth was dark and slightly cloudy. The taste was a little on the mild side. Lack of beefiness? Adding the chili paste and the hoisin sauce helped, but I was hoping the broth could carry the Pho without those additions.

Next time, I should boost the amount of beef bones and beef. Some recipes call for using oxtails, but oxtails are just as expensive as a decent steak, or I should just follow the recipe. :-)