One of the best parts of holiday roasts is the wonderful soups you can make with the leftover bones.  Beef and barley soup is a great way to repurpose some of your holiday roast beef leftovers.  If you have any leftover beef bones, cook them up with your favorite herbs and vegetables into a lovely beef broth, it will make a splendid stock for your soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 diced Onion
• 2 minced cloves of Garlic
• 2 sliced Carrots
• 2 sliced Celery stalks
• 1 cup sliced Mushrooms (I used baby bella’s)
• 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
• 1 tsp dried Thyme
• Salt and Pepper for seasoning
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/4 cup Sherry
• 1 cup diced Beef
• 4-6 cups Beef Stock
• 1/2 cup Barley

Directions:

1. Heat up the olive oil in a large stew pot.
2. Cook the onions and garlic in the olive oil until the onions begin to turn transparent.
3. Add in the remaining vegetables, tomato paste, thyme, and season with salt and pepper.
4. Allow the vegetables to cook for another couple of minutes, before pouring the sherry and Worcestershire sauce into the bottom of the pot.
5. Give it a quick stir, and then cover the vegetables for a few more minutes.
6. Once the vegetables have been given the chance to cook in the sherry for a bit, add in the beef followed by the beef stock.
7. Bring your soup to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
8. Add in the barley.
9. The barley needs at least an hour to cook, so leave your soup to simmer for the allotted time.  Add more beef stock or water if too much of the liquid is being cooked off.