Oxtail and Barley soup

OK, I realize that the things that get me all excited are not necessarily what others like.  For example, I made this soup yesterday and proudly served it to my family.  My husband ate it, but he's not a soup man.  He prefers a solid bit of food to bite into.

But my mom and I are both soup fans.  We get on the phone to share our ideas and successes in creating new soups with whatever is in the garden. I just think soup is something that, once you have some basics in how to build flavor, allows for so much creativity and seasonality.  Now that we live near each other, my mom and I try to save a bit of our creations to share with each other... passing canning jars full of soup for the other to lunch on.

Oxtail cuts are such a wonderful item for building a flavorful soup.  The bones are full of marrow and gelatin, there is a bit of meat on them... enough for soup, and it's not too fatty, meaning you don't have to skim.  What I'm saying is that you don't have to use beef broth... the bones make their own broth in the soup.  The way you you build flavor with them is to roast them ahead of time.  All those sticky brown bits are where your flavor comes from.  In order to incorporate them all into the soup, I like to deglaze my roasting pan.  This means I remove the roasted oxtails from the pan, set the pan on a medium-hot burner, pour in liquid (red wine in this case... but you can use water) and rub all those bits off into the liquid.  This gives you a nice umami flavor base for your soup.  The other flavor enhancers are the sauteed onion and a few tomatoes.  How long you cook it is up to you.  But time on low really helps soups and stews like this develop their flavors.

Another plus is that I have some lovely garden produce that helped this taste extra special.  I've got some immature onions in the ground, carrots, chard, tomatoes and fresh thyme.  You don't need them fresh, but it sure is nice this time of year.

The seasonings I use are also flexible.  I really like thyme and a bit of bay leaf.  You can also use a bit of oregano, but I think too much overpowers the soup.  Finally, I like to finish with some basil.  Every year I preserve my basil in a pesto-like mix.  I wiz up my basil with olive oil and a bit of salt and put it in jelly jars in the freezer and scrape a bit out when I need it.  I use this at the end of cooking like I would fresh basil.  But you can use the fresh leaf or a bit of pesto.  Just make sure you add enough salt.  If it tastes watery, then add a little more.  Soup made without enough salt just feels like a waste of all that work building flavors.

Here we go...

Oxtail and Barley Soup
This is a lot like my mother's minestrone soup, with a few substitutions.  It's a rustic soup you can make  any time of year, but fall is wonderful for the vegetables you have in the garden.  It's not a quick soup, but one you can start early in the day, turn off (or leave on low), then finish in the hour before dinner time.  This works for me as a stay-home mom, and might work for you on a weekend.  Like most of my best recipes, amounts are really forgiving and easily subject to your tastes. The features for me are the barley and carrots, so let the carrots be large enough to stand out with their color and shape.

Ingredients

• About 1-2 pounds beef oxtails (or neck bones of lamb)
• 1/2-1 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup green or brown lentils
• Olive oil
• 1/2 large onion or 4 immature ones... whites and greens, diced
• 2 medium carrots, sliced in half moons, or whatever you like
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried thyme, or 4-6 sprigs
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 plum tomatoes, rough dice... keep the seeds and everything (or about 8 oz canned tomatoes... just enough to add some flavor).
• 4 cups water.
• 1/4-1/2 cup barley
• 1 tsp pesto or a bit of fresh, chopped basil
• Optional: chopped greens like swiss chard, green beans, zuccini...

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Place the oxtails in a lightly oiled roasting pan.  Roast for 45-60 minutes or until the develop that dark browned crusty look.  Remove from oven and set oxtails aside in a bowl for later.  
3. Put roasting pan on a medium burner and pour in red wine.  Deglaze and rub the yummy browned bits off with a spatula or spoon.  After all the bits are off and your wine has boiled for about a minute, pour this liquid in a measuring cup for later.  It is one of your flavor boosters.
4. In a small saucepan, combine lentils with 1 1/2 cup water, bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes.  Set aside.
5. Get out a nice heavy-bottom soup pot or dutch oven.  Put it over medium heat w/ some olive oil.  Saute your onions with half the salt until it softens, about 5 minutes.
6. Add your carrots, garlic and the rest of the salt.  Cook 5 more minutes.
7. Add you tomatoes, thyme and pay leaf, cook 5 minutes.
8. Now add the rest.  Oxtails, deglazing wine, and 4 cups of water.  Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer from 30 minutes to 2 hours.  At this point, you can turn it off and leave the house or continue.
9. About 30 minutes before you need to eat, bring the soup back to a boil, add your lentils, barley and any extra vegetables you want to include.  Reduce to a simmer with the lid on and cook for 20 minutes or more, until the barley is plump and soft.
10. At the end of cooking, add your basil or pesto.  Adjust the seasoning and serve.

• Prep time: 2 hours in total... if you don't count the long simmering time
• Serves 4-6
• Serve with some nice bread and maybe a salad.  But it is a meal in and of itself... if you 're a soup person like me.