Lamb and Barley Soup (Scotch Broth)

Those of you who follow my blog have probably noticed I put in a recipe for Scotch Broth every so often. It's one of my favorite soups ever. While all the recipes are similar, there are probably a few little variations each time. So, for those of you, like me, who love lamb - and soup - here it is again.

5# boneless leg of lamb
any seasonings you love
I used Arizona Smoked Garlic Chipotle and Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning.

Cut off some of the extra fat. Generously season the exterior of the roast. Cook in a preheated 400° oven for 45-60 minutes. At this point, I only wanted to make soup and some really good lamb broth. I chilled the roast and the drippings overnight. I cut 8-10oz. of meat off the edges of the roast for the soup. (I ziplock bagged and froze the rest for another time, when I'll add it to a roasting pan full of partially cooked vegetables for a dinner of lamb and roasted vegetables.)

8-10oz. lamb

3 big carrots

1 med. onion

4oz. sliced mushrooms

1/3 of a bunch of chopped celery

salt and pepper

Remove the fat from the top of the broth. Put the fat and 4T butter in a different pot. Strain the broth and set it aside. Sauté the sliced-chopped vegetables in the fat and butter for 10-15 minutes. Add the chopped lamb, 2/3c long-cooking pearl barley, the lamb broth and 4-6c cold fresh water.

Simmer on low-medium heat for 45-60 minutes. Check the flavor of the broth. At this point, I added 2t Better Than Bouillon beef flavor and a little more pepper.

Serve now or chill and reheat for later in the day. This soup tastes wonderful reheated! Serve with a fresh green salad and some crusty garlic bread. . .Lin

Lamb-Quail-Duck Barley Vegetable Soup

Yesterday I made 8 quarts of a Lemon-Chicken-Garlic-Vegetable Anti-Viral Soup thinking I'd bring much of it to share at church tomorrow. With COVID19 ramping up, the churches here are closed and people are encouraged to avoid crowds, hugging and just stay home. Additionally, I still have quite a bit of that Beef Vegetable Soup I made a few days earlier AND the Turkey Chicken Soup. . .

I love this room at The New Scenic Cafe'

So, guess what I just did. . .

I made a small pot of really interesting barley and vegetable soup with Duck and Lamb meat, and even some Quail bones I used to make bone broth!!

There is a reason for this Soup Insanity however. I had some wonderful leftovers that were begging to be turned into soup!

A couple nights ago my daughter and I decided to go to a restaurant we hadn't been to in a while.  She had a coupon for a free entree' when you buy one, so we started with an appetizer of Porcini Cured Elk with Celeric, wish I had taken a pic of that!  Then Nancy ordered the Rack of Lamb and I ordered an incredible Game Platter of Venison, Duck and Quail with rutabaga and carrot steamed 'fries' roasted cherry tomatoes, served with little cups of perigord--a black truffle sauce, béarnaise and duck fat!  We also splurged and had dessert!  Well, laa-de-daa!!  Faannccy!!  

Nanc ate half her lamb and then felt the rest was too rare.  Same with my duck.  She gave me her lamb and the bones she had just cleaned off pretty well.  So, today, I gave the dogs the fat off my piece of duck, cut that up and combined it with the cut up lamb she hadn't touched, then boiled all the bones with a splash of vinegar to make a quick bone broth.  I strained it well and had about 4 cups.  I added a couple cups of the turkey-chicken bone broth I had in the 'fridge.  I quick sautéed the meat in duck fat, with the chopped, partially cooked 12 lg. cloves of garlic I had leftover from the Anti-Viral Soup (which contained 22lg. cloves of garlic.  That seemed anti-viral enough to me!!)

I moved the garlic-meat to a plate, added a little broth to the pan, stirred to incorporate the brownings and sautéed the chopped carrots and celery. While that sizzled, I added a shake of cayenne pepper, some finely ground black pepper, ½c of long cooking pearled barley and 2 cups of water. That simmered a while before I poured in 4-6 cups of the bone broths, covered and simmered it again, for a total of almost an hour.



At the end, I checked the broth for flavor, added 1t ground rosemary, and 2T+/- beef Better Than Bouillon, the perigord, garlic-meat and all the greens shown on the cutting board. I covered and simmered this another 5 minutes or so.

If you follow my blog, you probably recognize this recipe as a slight variation of my favorite,  original, 'signature soup recipe.'  My Lamb, Barley Scotch Broth.  I love making this!  The only time it's even remotely failed is when the lamb I bought tasted more like beef.  Even then, it was an awesome soup!  Don't pitch those leftovers. . .ponder a while and turn them into your own, truly unique, yummy creation! . . Lin

2-Day Scotch Broth with Madagascar Pink Rice

DAY ONE:

5# lamb-?-goat roast

~ all fat removed - but saved

1T adobo seasoning or

1T Rosemary Seasoning *

water

I recently went to a European Market in the Chicago area.  I was SO excited to get some smoked goat chops again, like I did 3 years ago at this market.

Well, the butcher gave me a gorgeous 5# roast, but when I got it back home in Minnesota, I realized it was labeled MUTTON - lamb, which I also love, but it's not goat!  If I'm remembering the scent of goat meat, this does seem more like lamb.  The butcher I spoke with a couple days later, to get more 'goat' cut and wrapped up what I'm sure IS goat, but this time the label read COW FEET!  He was a sweet man who spoke broken English, who reminded me of a Spanish Dustin Hoffman!  The goat chops were over $4 a pound, but this whole package cost me a little over $6, rather than the $13-$15 it should have been.  Hmmm, all kinda strange!  "Preferred-customer discount?"

Regardless, put the trimmed roast into an 6-8 quart pot, brown it in the butter.  When both sides are nicely brown and sizzled, remove from the heat a few minutes, then add water to almost cover the roast.   Add the thick outer fat - that you trimmed off - back to the pot.  (I know, counterintuitive, right?  I like doing it this way.  It'll make sense in a bit.)  Cover the pot and simmer 60-90 minutes, turning the meat over several times.  Take the roast out, put it on a dinner plate with raised edges, let cool then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Scoop out the big chunks of fat that didn't melt and thrown them away.  Put the fatty broth in the refrigerator until the fat solidifies.  Overnight is best.

DAY TWO:

12oz. meat cut in small cubes

2t Rosemary Seasoning

2T of the rendered fat

⅔c long cooking rice, barley or sorghum 

This is the fun part.  Somehow I deleted the photo of the fat covered broth when I took the pot out of the 'fridge.  It had a very hard ¼" of yellow-white fat that was easily and cleanly broken away from the broth beneath.  I heated the 5oz. of fat then strained it into the jar shown above at the right in the first little photo.  It solidified quickly.  I then added a little water to the unstrained broth, brought it to a simmer, then strained it.  In the end, I only used the jar on the right, since I have so much meat left, I wanted to keep at least a quart for future recipes.  Put this group of ingredients into the original pot after it's been cleaned.  Saute' and stir until a little  browning begins.  Add 4oz. water and repeat the browning process.  Do this a couple times.  To add a nice richness, use 4oz. of your favorite wine or beer the last time.

Add the vegetables, then pour about a quart of the meat broth you've made, over everything.  Simmer a half hour, covered.  Add any necessary seasonings, more adobo, Rosemary Seasoning, or a couple tablespoons of a good quality beef soup base.  Bring back to a simmer and serve.  This is wonderful soup, just as is, or you could served it with some crusty, buttered ciabatta bread.  Mmmm.  A big bowl of this will cure what ails you.  There have been times I was SO sick and had a bowl of this and I'm pretty sure it brought me back from death's door.

Ahhh. . .Soup. . .It'll heal you. . .heart, soul, mind and body. . .😋. . . Lin

Scotch Broth - Lamb and Barley Soup

1¼# of lean lamb

1-2T avocado oil

1-2t white balsamic vinegar

1 lg. purple shallot

1-2t Rosemary Seasoning *

4 med. carrots - scrubbed

1½c chopped celery and tops

¾c long cooking pearl barley

1-2T flour

2-3 quarts water

3 bay leaves

1 lg. purple shallot 

1 sweet yellow pepper

Vegetable Better Than Bouillon

Trim the fat off the lamb then cut the meat into small cubes.  Put in a 4-5 qt. pot with the oil, vinegar, minced shallot and Rosemary Seasoning.  Sauté and stir until the meat begins to brown.

  

Add the chopped carrots, celery, barely and continue to stir and cook until everything's sizzling.  Sprinkle on the flour and stir it in.  Pour in the water, a little at a time. Add bay leaves, rough chopped shallot, slice-chopped pepper, stir to combine everything, cover and simmer on low a half hour.  Check flavor, and make any corrections.  Soup will be ready when celery and carrots are tender and the barley is just a little chewy.

Mmmmm. . . Soup's On! . . Lin

Lamb and Barley Soup (a.k.a. Scotch Broth)

¾# well trimmed lamb

⅓ big purple shallot - minced

½t fresh ground black pepper

½t rosemary seasoning *

1-2T butter

1c chopped celery

1c chopped carrot

½c long-cooking pearl barley - rinsed

1-2T vegetable Better Than Bullion

fresh cold water

2 giant garlic cloves - chopped

rest of the shallot - sliced

If I were ever told I could only make one type of soup for the rest of my life - this would be the one!  After trimming the fat, cut the lamb into small pieces and combine with the remaining ingredients in a 3 quart pot.  Heat on medium-high heat until the water in the meat evaporates, and the lamb begins to brown.  Add a little water, stir and repeat the browning and deglazing several times to build flavor.  Add the next group of ingredients with about 3 cups of water.  Cover and simmer for half an hour, then add the garlic and shallot, adding more water if needed.  Re-cover and simmer another half hour.

You can serve this as soon as the vegetables and barley are cooked, but I'd recommend chilling then reheating it several hours or a day later.  The flavors build nicely by doing this, making it a great, hearty soup to cook the day before.  The barley provides enough good carbs, but if you are a bread person, some warm, buttered potato rolls would go great with a big steamy bowl of this.😊. . . Lin