WHOLESOME LAMB AND BARLEY SOUP 

Soup made with lamb neck or leftover shredded lamb, root vegetables, and pearl barley.
Served with dumplings and freshly chopped parsley.   


Click here for the downloadable recipe.


INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon Olive oil

500 g Lamb neck or leftover shredded lamb

1 teaspoon Salt

1 Onion, chopped

1/3 cup Pearl barley, uncooked

1 large Carrot, peeled and chopped

2 sticks Celery, chopped

1 small Turnip, peeled and chopped

1 medium Parsnip, peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 ¾ liter Lamb or beef stock

2 sprigs Fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon Freshly ground pepper

1 cup Green beans, finely chopped (fresh or frozen)


Dumplings

1 ¼  cup Flour

2 teaspoons Baking powder

½ teaspoon Salt

¼ teaspoon Black pepper

1/4 cup Butter

1/3 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons Fresh herbs (Parsley, mint, rosemary)
finely chopped

1 Egg, beaten

METHOD

Preparing the soup:

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Season the lamb and  brown the meat in the saucepan.

  2. Add the onion and barley and fry for another minute. Add the carrots, celery, turnips and parsnip and cook for 5 minutes more until softened. 

  3. Add the Worcestershire sauce, stock and thyme cover and cook for 45  minutes over medium heat, until meat is tender and vegetables soft.

  4. When everything is cooked, spoon about ¼ of the soup (without the meat) into a jug and puree with a stick blender. Stir the blended soup back into the rest of the soup. Season with pepper. 

  5. Add the green beans and place the dumpling mixture (recipe below) on top of the soup. Close the saucepan tightly and simmer for 20 minutes until the dumplings are cooked.

  6. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with fresh herbs and serve with granary bread. 

Preparing the dumplings:

  1. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper together. 

  2. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the chopped herbs. 

  3. Mix the beaten egg with the buttermilk and stir into the flour mixture to form a soft dough.

  4. Use a tablespoon and dip the spoon into the soup. Scoop spoonsful of dough and place carefully in the soup. Cover the soup with a tightly fitting lid.  Simmer and let the steam cook the dumplings for 20 minutes.